[4] The city has a Main Street Historic District containing fine examples of Federal, Greek Revival, and Victorian architecture.

[6] Other sources show that the Pocumtucks joined the Wampanoag chief Metacom in August 1675 in the fight against English encroachment, indicating a continued presence in the area.

[7] The Pocumtuck also played an important role in the Battle of Great Falls / Wissantinnewag – Peskeompskut on May 19, 1676, and tribal oral tradition indicates that following the battle, elements of the Pocumtuck fled to and were incorporated into the Abenaki people to the north and the Mahican people to the west.

John Russell established the Green River Works in 1834, hiring skilled German workers at what was the country's first cutlery factory.

[8] Greenfield is located at the center of the county and is bordered by Colrain, Leyden, and Bernardston to the north; Gill to the east; Montague to the southeast; Deerfield to the south; and Shelburne to the west.

The Green River runs from the north, through town to the Deerfield, which lies along the city's southern border.

The city is located beside the Pocumtuck Range, the northernmost subridge of the Metacomet Ridge, and is surrounded by hills, with the town center lying on an elevated point above the rivers.

Like most of New England, Greenfield has a humid continental climate, exactly on the border between Köppen Dfa and Dfb with its warmest-month (July) mean of 71.6 °F (22.0 °C).

Greenfield was one of several Massachusetts municipalities that applied for, and were granted, city forms of government but wished to retain "The Town of" in their official names.

[27] The other city boards are appointed, with the exception of the seven-member school committee, which consists of the mayor plus six members elected at-large.

Greenfield's second mayor, Bill Martin, took second place in the 2009 primary as a write-in candidate and went on to win the general election in June.

[31] It runs a sizeable public works department and is the home base of the regional waste management system.

The Greenfield Public Library had many years in the historic Leavitt–Hovey House built in 1797, but recently moved next door to a brand new building.

Greenfield is home to the privately run Baystate Franklin Medical Center, which serves much of the northern Pioneer Valley.

The first Bee Fest served to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Langstroth's birth and to highlight the importance of the honeybee in sustaining the environment and in human agriculture.

Bee Fest, now an annual celebration held in the spring, overlooks the center of town and Court Square and offers fun and learning for all ages.

[36] The project received support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, local businesses and non-profit organizations, and the community.

In 2021, the entire Franklin County Fair Kick-Off Parade was bee-themed, with many bee-decorated floats and marchers in bee costumes.

Route 2, which follows the rough path of (and is nicknamed after) the Mohawk Trail, enters over the Fall River as a surface road before becoming a limited-access highway until its concurrence with I-91.

In October 2016, the administration of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced a $7.5 million grant to the town government to build a new downtown parking garage.

The town is served by Greyhound bus lines and is the hub of the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA), whose local service extends from Bernardston to Northampton and from Orange to Charlemont.

Passenger rail service resumed in Greenfield on December 29, 2014, with the rerouting of Amtrak's Vermonter, with all trains serving the Olver Transit Center.

In June 2018, it was announced that Greenfield would become the terminus for an extension of the New Haven–Springfield Shuttle, in a pilot program being launched by CT Rail and the MassDOT.

[42][43] There is a proposal known as "Northern Tier Passenger Rail" in the early stages of planning, which would extend MBTA's Fitchburg Line westward through Greenfield and terminate at North Adams.

[citation needed] The MAVA program is also expected to provide expanded course offerings to students in the traditional public schools.

The Center School, established in 1981, serves students from preschool through eighth grade with a progressive approach to education.