Читать книгу The Outdoor Citizen. Get Out, Give Back, Get Active онлайн

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In my position as chief development officer, I had the privilege of working with Massachusetts State officials and the state’s commercial development entity, MassDevelopment, on an initiative called Gateway Cities. The program was designed to fund revitalization projects in cities that were struggling to find their economic footing. Most Gateway Cities were old mill and factory cities, legacy cities whose mills and factories had long since closed, and Springfield was one of them. During the American Revolution, the city was home to the Springfield Armory, which developed the first American musket and manufactured the Springfield rifles used during the Civil War. Later, it was home to the first assembly-line manufacturing, the mass production of vulcanized rubber, and key developments in the automobile industry, such as the United States’ first gasoline-powered car. But by the second half of the twentieth century, many of its manufacturing businesses had closed or moved elsewhere, and Springfield was in a state of decline.