Next year marks the 80th anniversary of the Great Mill River Diversion when the Corps of Engineers dug a ditch to redirect the river away from downtown Northampton after the disastrous 1936 flood. Forbes Library, with the co-sponsorship of the Northampton’s Office of Planning and Sustainability, Historic Northampton, and the Mill River Greenway Initiative, will hold a forum to kick off preparations for “2020: The Rediscovery of the Hidden Mill River.”

This event will feature presentations by Laurie Sanders (Historic Northampton) on the natural history of the Mill River, John Sinton (Mill River Greenway Initiative and author of Devil's Den to Lickingwater: The Mill River through Landscape & History) on the human history of the Mill, and Wayne Feiden (Northampton Office of Planning and Sustainability) on Planning for the Hidden Mill River, Past and Future. The evening will begin at 6:30 with an informal discussion with community members based on the masters’ thesis poster of UMass landscape architecture student Tasuku Kamei that focuses on a downtown section of the Hidden Mill River. Speakers will begin at 7PM and will be followed by short films on the 1936 flood created from the collections of Historic Northampton and Forbes Library. 

We invite one and all to listen to and participate in an attempt to re-imagine the Mill River as it ran through the center of Northampton. We look forward to a spirited session led by local experts on many aspects of the Mill River.