1874 Loomis and Kirtland City Plan or Map of Holyoke, Massachusetts

William S. Loomis (1840 - July 10, 1914) was an American publisher and businessman. Born in Granville, Massachusetts, Loomis moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts as a young boy. He graduated from Holyoke High School and worked in his father's store. When the American Civil War broke out, Loomis enlisted in B Company, 46th Regiment, Massachusetts Infantry and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in January 1863 by Governor John A. Andrews. After the war, Loomis was elected Holyoke town clerk and held the position for a number of years. Loomis bought a share of the Holyoke Transcript, the town's weekly newspaper, from Charles M. Lyman, and began publishing the paper with Edwin L. Kirtland unde the name Loomis and Kirtland. Kirtland sold his shares to William G. Dwight in 1881, and Loomis and Dwight began working on converting the paper from a weekly to a daily. Loomis, however, sold his share of the paper in 1888 to devote himself to the Holyoke Street Railway Company, which he owned. He soon had a street railway line operating in Elmwood as well, and not long after organized the Mt. Tom Railway Company. Loomis resigned as general manager of the Holyoke Street Railway Company in 1912, but retained the presidency. He also was still serving as president of the Mt. Tom Railway COmpany, vice-president of the Holyoke Savings Bank, vice-president of the Holyoke Library Association, and president of the Forestdale Cemetery Association when he died. More by this mapmaker...

Edwin Leander Kirtland (1833 - April 12, 1910) was an American publisher, public servant, and musician. Born in Westbrook, Connecticut, Kirtland graduated from Yale in 1859 and taught at Westbrook Academy the next year. he worled in the pension office in Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War and was in Ford's Theater the night President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. After he retired from the pension office, he lived in Philadelphia for a few years before returning to Connecticut, where he was elected to the Connecticut State Legislature in 1869. He moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1870. Kirtland purchased Henry M. Burt's share of the Holyoke Transcript, the town's weekly newspaper, in 1870 and sold his share of the newspaper in 1881. Kirtland was elected to the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1873 and wrote a history of the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts that was published in 1898. He held the position of superintendent of schools in Holyoke for twenty years. He died at his home in Holyoke in 1910. He married Laura Maria Whiting on July 6, 1892. Learn More...