Ludlow: The Jute Town on the Chicopee

Ludlow, Massachusetts sits on the Chicopee River east of Springfield and was known as Stony Hill until seventeen seventy-four, when it was set off as a district under its current name, likely borrowed from Ludlow in England. For most of its early life it was a farming community. That changed in eighteen sixty-eight when the Ludlow Manufacturing and Sales Company opened a jute and cotton textile mill on the river.

The mill grew into one of the largest jute operations in the country, eventually employing five thousand workers. Portuguese immigrants arrived in growing numbers in the late eighteen hundreds to fill those jobs, transforming Ludlow into a vibrant Portuguese American community that defines the town's character to this day. The mills ultimately closed in the twentieth century, but the brick mill buildings remain a landmark along the river, and Ludlow's Portuguese heritage is still celebrated in its festivals, restaurants, and churches.