The development of East Longmeadow around the turn-of-the century was largely reliant on the brownstone quarrying industry.

The industry brought many Swedish immigrants, formerly of Connecticut, along with large French and Italian populations to the area.

In the 1750s houses started appearing in the eastern part of the town known as "East Village".

[5] In the early 2010s, a bike path called The Redstone Rail Trail was built on a 1.6 mile section of where the tracks ran.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 12.94 square miles (33.5 km2) as of 2020.

Historic places in East Longmeadow include the numerous red and brown sandstone quarries that gave the town its industrial beginnings and from which the original Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington was mined, the Elijah Burt House, The Seward Pease House, The Train depot, and the First Congregational Church.

East Longmeadow is also home (or partial home) to a few golf courses.The Rotary itself was made famous by Robert Ripley, author of Ripley's Believe It or Not and listed because of the seven streets feeding into it with no traffic lights.

Also an integral part of East Longmeadow are the many churches, such as St. Michael's (Catholic), St. Paul's (Lutheran), St. Mark's (Episcopal),[16] First Congregational (UCC), First Baptist, Cornerstone Church, East Longmeadow United Methodist, St. Luke's (Greek Orthodox) and many more.

East Longmeadow was home to Milton Bradley Company for many years, and still houses one of their largest facilities after Hasbro bought this corporation in 1984.

It consisted of three popularly elected members who held staggered three-year terms.

In June 2016, East Longmeadow elected a seven-member Town Council.

With the adoption of the new charter, East Longmeadow became a statutory city under Massachusetts state law on July 1, 2016.

[19][20] In fiscal year 2008, the town of East Longmeadow spent 1.4% ($584,361) of its budget on its public library; $38 per person.