Warwick, located in Western Massachusetts, has always been a rural community. Its land is not as good for farming as that found in the nearby Connecticut River Valley but, as evidenced in this 1871 map, its streams and ponds provided power for numerous sawmills, a cider mill, grist mills, and a stave and box mill. There were at least four different boomakers as well. Over time, these industries and the town’s population decreased. Today, aside from a small amount of dairying and meat production, there are no businesses in town.