North Adams

City in Berkshire County, northwestern Massachusetts; population (2000 est) 14,700. It lies on the Hoosic River at the western end of the Mohawk Trail and Hoosac Tunnel (1851-75, the first tunnel cut through rock in the USA). The city makes electronics, textiles, paper, electrical machinery, and leather goods, but suffered severe unemployment in the 1980s and 1990s. It was incorporated in 1895.

The Hoosic River provided water power for manufacturing enterprises to develop here from 1760. North Adams separated from Adams in 1878.

There are 25 entries on the national register of historic places, and attractions include the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (1999), Mount Greylock, the Mohawk Trail, the Western Gateway Heritage State Park, and the annual Fall Foliage Festival.