Pittsfield

City and administrative headquarters of Berkshire County, west-central Massachusetts, on the Housatonic River, just east of the New York border; population (2000 est) 45,800. Major employers include General Electric and the plastics industry, while paper, textiles, foundry products, and tourism are also important.

The first Europeans settlers in the 1740s were driven off by American Indians, and the first permanent settlement, called Pontoosuc Plantation, was in 1752. The town was incorporated as Pittsville in 1761, named after the British politician William Pitt the Elder. It was incorporated as a city in 1891.

It was originally an agricultural area, and early industries included wool, cotton, and shoemaking. There was an electrical industry by the 1880s, bought up by General Electric in 1903. Pittsfield was hurt by downsizing in the 1970s and 1980s, and at the same time, environmental issues also became important.

Adjoining Pittsfield is Hancock, site of a Shaker village until 1960. US authors Oliver Wendell Holmes and Henry Longfellow had connections with the city, and Herman Melville wrote the novel Moby Dick (1851) at his home, Arrowhead, which is open to the public. It is home to Berkshire Museum (1903) and Berkshire Community College (1960). Pittsfield has 14 entries on the national register of historic places, including a concert hall, a fire station, and the town hall.