The city was also home to author Jacques Ducharme, whose 1943 book The Shadows of the Trees, published by Harper, was one of the first non-fiction English accounts of New England's French and French-Canadian diaspora.

[14]: 18 With the rapid industrialization of the area around the Holyoke Dam, many new families arrived in search of work; among them were the Stebbins, Taces, Provosts, Viens, Francœurs, Hamels, and Proulx.

[11]: 53  By this time the Lyman Mills spooling factory which had been funded by the city's original backers, the Boston Associates, had fallen into receivership with the Panic of 1857 and acquired new owners who sought to fill a labor shortage when business improved in 1858.

Over the next 5 years Proulx would bring an estimated 500 Quebecois workers to Holyoke, until industrial demand from the Civil War led to the construction of rail directly from Montreal by 1868.

A Springfield Republican article for January 28, 1864, reported an "order [was] issued for the arrest of the Frenchmen who could 'parley-vouz'[sic] in English as well as anybody before they enlisted on Holyoke's quota, but grew very Frenchy after they were sent to camp, and were discharged because they couldn't understand what the officers said".

[11]: 54–55 A mass exodus of Quebec workers began after the Civil War with most in higher density textile manufacturing towns, such as Holyoke, as well as Gardner, Lowell, and Fall River.

In his history of Holyoke's Franco-American immigrants, The Shadows of the Trees, Jacques Ducharme described that "many [French] were to feel the caillou celtique, or 'Kelly Biscuit,' for in the early days the Irish were not averse to violence by way of showing their distaste for the newcomers.

[28] The promise of jobs higher paying than those of Quebec farms, coupled with demand for cheap labor, led the city's French to surpass the population characterizing Holyoke's traditional name of "Ireland Parish" in three decades.

Many remained excluded from labor unions and in turn created a system of nepotism in area mills, until new waves of lower-wage immigrants began to compete with them in the mid-20th century.

Father Dufresne, who led the new school, ultimately convinced the city's industrialist backers to not allow it to close, stating it did teach both English and French, and that its closure would lead to an exodus of workers.

[35] Wright's words would lead to a very public backlash by the Franco-American community throughout the state; indeed the Massachusetts legislature held hearings with representatives from different French cultural groups throughout the Commonwealth.

Ultimately Wright never renounced his statement, but eventually amended it, adding "no other nationality has developed as rapidly and in as satisfactory a manner on coming to this country"; his 1881 report would shape public discourse in Massachusetts for more than four decades.

The fire, which began when a breeze blew a piece of lace draped over the Blessed Virgin Mary into a lit candle, killed 78 French parishioners, with many injured during the stampede that crushed several in the church's narrow exit.

[17][36] While the first generations of French-Canadians and French remained separated from Holyoke's establishment by culture, language, and status, throughout the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries they gradually integrated with the community in civic, commercial, and social life.

[49] The only other mayor of Franco-American heritage, Ernest E. Proulx, was elected immediately after Taupier in 1976, in a time when Holyoke was characterized by an unprecedented increase in unemployment and civil unrest that made national coverage.

In a 1982 interview he would describe the ethnic voting bloc as existing in numbers alone, and lamented that it lacked any common political identity by that time, going on to say that, in contrast with the city's active Polish and Irish communities, many had lost touch with their culture through generations of Americanization.

[51] As mayor, he would tout support from his predecessor as well as certain developments such as the creation of new manufacturing plants for Wang Laboratories and Dennison National,[52] as well as the Le Festival Franco-Américain, an annual celebration in Holyoke and the Greater Springfield area, which honored him as a public servant of French-Canadian heritage.

[53] Proulx however proved to be a controversial figure in his handling of social issues such as desegregation and minority housing, delaying integration plans citing funding concerns,[54][55] and setting up a Hispanic Affairs Commission only after years of resistance.

[56][57] He was described by one Valley Advocate writer as a deeply divisive political figure, "a man you either love or hate",[58] after 12 years in office he was defeated by Martin J. Dunn in 1986.

Local historian Vivian Potvin, who wrote the city's centennial French history was honored for her historical preservation work in 1986 with an award from the Conseil de la vie française en Amérique.

[14][74] In 1912 the Alliance Française de Holyoke was established, with Louis LaFrance's wife being president of the branch, however the organization, which teaches the French language and provides cultural exchange, had only 15 members in 1922 and appears to have folded at some time in the 20th century.

[89][90] During Lussier's tenure, the paper would expand its circulation to around 4,500 by 1922, and publish not only news but fiction as well, most notably Emma Dumas' Mirbah; a serial novel about a French Canadian actress in Holyoke.

[91] In 1940 Lussier would sell the paper to novelist Jacques Ducharme who, realizing he had decidedly no interest in running a newspaper, sold it to the firm's printer Roméo-Dadace Raymond, who passed it to his son Gerry Ramond.

[89][92] It ceased publication in 1964, following the death of Raymond Sr.[92][93] Although the printing firm LaJustice would continue for several decades thereafter, this marked the end of a period of 80 years (1884–1964) which was characterized by regular French-language publishing in Holyoke.

[94] The group, of which many spoke the French language, however did not always see agreement with their French-Canadian counterparts, one of the few records of their interactions being a fight that occurred during the Alsatians' celebration of a Prussian victory during the Franco-Prussian War.

[104][105] While living in Holyoke, many residents remained abreast with current events in Canada and Quebec specifically; indeed the city's French newspapers would dedicate regular columns to the affairs of the province.

[109][110] Similarly, in 1886, a petition of 602 signatures of French residents was sent to the Governor General, calling for the pardon of Louis Riel, who had infamously led the rebellion of Métis peoples and was ultimately hung for treason.

[113][118] Fréchette would give a reading of his poems the following day on the steps of City Hall before a gathering of 250 residents;[119] in contrast he would return to Holyoke in 1888, with another delegation of Canadian officials to be greeted by a crowd of 10,000.

In Paris at some time during the month of January 1919, she was awarded the Médaille de la Reconnaissance française by Premier Alexandre Millerand and made the rank of Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur.

[137] In 1978, Québecois writer François Hébert would write his novel Holyoke, a work described by a University of Laval literature compendium as comprising "a mirrored structure on the lost sorrow of the (love) quest of the other and the loneliness".