Join the Springfield Preservation Trust for a walk around downtown Springfield to explore the legacy of the City during the Gilded Age, American’s most prosperous period. This tour will be guided by Westfield Athenaeum Executive Director Guy McLain and features art and architecture across Springfield’s metropolitan landscape.

Mark Twain described America in the late nineteenth century as a Gilded Age. And indeed, the country experienced economic growth that hasn’t been matched before or since. But it wasn’t just a time for building new factories and businesses. A significant portion of the wealth created at this time was funneled into the arts. Museums, libraries, colleges, orchestras, and opera houses were established at a rate that seems astounding today. Springfield, just 25 miles north of Twain’s home in Hartford, was a perfect example of the prosperity that he was describing. During the Gilded Age, Springfield citizens founded most of the cultural institutions, monuments, and civic buildings that still serve the city today. Also influencing art and architecture at this time was the City Beautiful Movement. This movement was dedicated to advocating for civic structures that would bring greater beauty and cohesion to American cities. Springfield fully embraced the principles of this movement, and as a result, some of the most beautiful buildings in the city today were products of this time.

About the Tour Guide
Guy McLain, currently the Executive Director of the Westfield Athenaeum, has been devoted to the preservation and dissemination of Western Massachusetts history for more than 40 years. Prior to his current appointment in Westfield he served on the staff of the University of Massachusetts Archives, was the Special Collections Librarian and Archivist for the Springfield City Library, and was the founding Director of the Wood Museum of Springfield History. He is the author of the Pioneer Valley: a Pictorial History (1991), and a novel titled Drawing Without an Eraser (2020). He has also published in the Historical Journal of Massachusetts and is the editor of the book Springfield Fights the Civil War. 

The Second Saturday Walking Tour series is co-presented by the Springfield Preservation Trust and Springfield Museums, and generously sponsored by the Daboul Family Charitable Trust.