Osceola Park and Why Osceola in Pittsfield?
Osceola is perhaps the only park in Pittsfield that has a direct historical connection to a former mill
village. The Tillotson family was generous in providing public use of the future park land. In 1868 they donated
an area to the city for the establishment of the Osceola School which would serve neighborhood children until 1940. By the 1880’s the park was used as a public baseball, athletic field and ski area.
After the bankruptcy of Tillotson’s Mill in 1931, the land was purchased by the Pittsfield Industrial Development Company and eventually was donated to the City in 1942.
Osceola – Seminole Chief in Pittsfield?
A young brave named Osceola became a leader of the tribe and gained national fame as a noble warrior who fought for the rights of his people. He was featured in books, songs, and poems. Osceola was arrested at a truce conference and died in a federal prison In 1838. Many towns, counties, and other landmarks across the country were named in his honor. Two were local: Osceola Mountain in Richmond, Massachusetts and Osceola Mountain at the site of the future Bousquet Ski Area in Pittsfield.
It is believed that the name for the mountains was chosen by Rev. Henry Colman, the Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of Massachusetts from 1836-42. In his 1838 study of Berkshire County, Colman writes that iron ore was found in Richmond “near the highlands designated as Mount Osceola”. That was the year of the death of Osceola, so it seems likely that the mountains were chosen as a memorial. An 1879 article in the Berkshire County Eagle also credits Rev. Colman as the person who originated the name.
A history of that time notes that the Tillotson Mill was situated “near the foot of Osceola Mountain”. A 1954 map of the Bousquet’s Ski Area in Pittsfield clearly locates Osceola Mountain as the high point of that region.
To this day, if you gaze south from the mill on West Housatonic St., Bousquet’s and the mountain, now called Osceola Mountain, are clearly visible.
The Mills of Pittsfield 