WEST SPRINGFIELD

town (township), Hampden county, southwestern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies along the Westfield and Connecticut rivers opposite Springfield and Chicopee. It was settled about 1660 and incorporated in 1774. The town's common, where insurgents drilled during Shays's Rebellion (178687) of dissident farmers, was earlier the campsite of three American armies during the American Revolution. The town now has a service-based economy; light manufactures include electronic components and chemicals. Storrowton Village Museum, the site of the annual Eastern States Exposition (an agricultural and industrial fair), is a restored early New England village. Area 18 square miles (47 square km). Pop. (1990) 27,537; (1996 est.) 26,192.