Leeds and Florence residents petition city for a new roadway in 1878

The winter freshet of 1878 completely isolated a dozen or so tenement houses on the western side of Main Street from any roadway. The heavy rain and melting snow cut a new channel into the Mill River wiping out the road residents on “Shanty Row” used to get back and forth from the village.

The local school was also located on the road. A petition by taxpayers of Leeds, Florence and Northampton lobbied for a new roadway and bridge to be built. A new roadway and bridge to cross the mill pond was approved in 1879. The “Old Sheperd’s Road Bridge”as the Hotel Bridge was once called was completed in January of 1881.  The new route offered a picturesque passage across the Mill River for factory workers and village residents and travelers. Soon after in 1883 the Leeds Hotel was built on the north western side of the bridge.