The idea of a mountain or summit house was pioneered simultaneously in 1825, in the Hudson River Valley in New York with the Catskill Mountain House, and in the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts with the Mt. Holyoke House. This publication describes the first summit house on Mt. Tom, which rises above the towns of Holyoke and Northampton in Massachusetts. It was built in 1897, and had electric lighting and an electric railway. In 1900, the summit house was destroyed by a fire but a new one was built the following year. In 1929, it burned down as well. A third building lasted until 1938, when the advent of the automobile and the Great Depression led to its closure and removal.
Views On And About Mt. Tom And Of Mt. Tom Railroad. Holyoke Street Railway Company, ca. 1900. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l02-171/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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