About 15,000 years ago, the current site of the City of Holyoke lay on the bottom of a portion of a 157 mile long body of water known as Lake Hitchcock. As the waters receded, they left a double legacy - the rich alluvial soils which have supported a long history of agriculture in the Connecticut Valley, and the river itself, the original motor of economic progress in the region.

The first inhabitants of Holyoke were Native Americans, specifically the tribes of the Algonquians, including the Pequots, Mohegans, and Chippewas. The Agawams settled to the south of Holyoke and the Nonotocks settled to the north of Holyoke. The Connecticut River provided resources such as food and transportation for all Native Americans who settled nearby.

Holyoke was then known as Ireland Parish, a name that would be in common use until 1850, when Holyoke became a town.

Industrial investment and the corresponding growth in population, housing and employment began in the first half of the 19th century. Once Boston entrepreneurs realized Western Massachusetts could be as profitable as Lowell and Waltham, they set out to plan and create an industrial city on a scale never seen before.

In 1847, taking advantage of the broad plain and the 57 foot drop in the Connecticut River at South Hadley Falls, work began on a planned industrial City. Construction of Holyoke's first wooden dam began in 1847 under the Hadley Falls Company.  On November 16, 1848 at 10 am, the gates were closed and the reservoir began to rise. At 3:26 pm, the dam was swept away to the famous words "Dam gone to hell by way of Willimansett." A second wooden dam began construction in 1849, made with an apron for support.  In 1858, the Holyoke Water Power Company took control of Hadley Falls Company. In 1900, the wooden dam was replaced by a new stone dam, which had taken five years to construct. Known as Holyoke's Million Dollar Dam, it used the most advanced technology of its day, and attracted visitors from all over the world. Canals, mills, boarding houses, offices and a dam were all built by pick and shovel.