[1][2] Today the city contains a number of specialty manufacturing companies,[21] as well as the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, an intercollegiate research facility which opened in 2012.

[23][24] Powered by these municipally-owned canals, Holyoke has among the lowest electricity costs in the Commonwealth,[25] and as of 2016 between 85% and 90% of the city's energy was carbon neutral, with administrative goals in place to reach 100% in the future.

Gradually the Holyoke Water Power Company began building housing on its land holdings to sell to working families,[60] and by the end of the 19th century more private developments had begun to appear.

Architect Oscar Beauchemin's work shaped both the Main Street landscape of Springdale and many large multi-colored brick tenements built in mixed density housing can be attributed to him, often with Renaissance Revival architectural motifs.

Whereas New York's Commissioner's Plan of 1811 lays out a system of numbered streets and avenues, engineer Philander Anderson laid out the names of routes in Holyoke's grid system alternating between tree species for North to South streets (Sycamore, Locust, Linden, Oak, Beech, Pine, Walnut, Elm, Chestnut, Maple), and the names of the Hadley Falls Company founders (Lyman, Dwight, Appleton, Cabot, Sargeant, Jackson), as well as several Massachusetts counties (Hampden, Suffolk, Essex, Hampshire, Franklin) for thoroughfares running east to west.

The ten most common countries of origin for immigrants in the city were the Dominican Republic, Poland, Germany, China, El Salvador, the United Kingdom, Colombia, Kenya, and Mexico.

[40] Later waves of immigration led to significant growth and cultural influence of communities of Germans, Italians, Jews, Poles, and Scots into the first half of the 20th century, and Puerto Ricans, Greeks, Colombians, and Dominicans in the subsequent decades.

[85] In the 1850s, mill owners began to recruit French-Canadians, regarded as docile and less likely to create labor unions due to their agrarian backgrounds and anti-unionism promoted by Québecois clergy at that time.

Several international companies also maintain manufacturing facilities in the area, including a power transmission factory for U.S. Tsubaki in Springdale, and a Sonoco cardboard recycling plant in South Holyoke.

At one time the company produced the "Holyoke Hercules" model of water turbine which served the city's industries on the canal system, and previously their shops cast bronze doors for the U.S. Capitol Building.

[115] Today the city is still home to a number of firms specializing in such equipment as medical devices, industrial vacuums, solid waste containers, plastics and rubber manufacturing, bookbinding agents and archival supplies.

[116] Another notable firm, Dan's Power Plant, produces nut-based cheese substitutes known as "Fauxmaggio", as a vegan alternative, selling many of their products in upscale markets in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

In the following decade the two designed and developed their tenth of an acre backyard into a year-round food producing garden, with over 100 perennial plant species which sustain limited wildlife populations, and have remediated soil on the site.

[134] Soon after medical marijuana was legalized in Massachusetts, Mayor Alex Morse began promoting the city as a growth and distribution center for the new industry, due to its low energy costs and proximity to several metropolitan markets.

[151][152][153]: 80 On May 2, 1885, Clark W. Bryan, a publisher and stakeholder in The Republican,[154] launched Good Housekeeping magazine, originally described as "not to be a bi-monthly cookbook" but "a family journal conducted in the interests of the higher life of the household".

[155] In literature, Holyoke was the hometown of John Clellon Holmes, whose novel Go is considered to be the first published novel depicting the Beat Generation, predating works of his contemporaries Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.

[162] Tanguay's was just one of many acts associated with the city's history, it was in Holyoke that vaudevillian Sophie Tucker was found by the Theatrical Syndicate's Marc Klaw who introduced her to Broadway's Ziegfeld Follies in 1909.

[164] Performers from the B. F. Keith Circuit would regularly tour Mountain Park's own playhouse which also hosted the Valley Players, with whom actor Hal Holbrook most famously launched his career.

[165][166] Perhaps the most prominent venue after the 1920s, the Valley Arena Gardens hosted a wide variety of musical acts including the likes of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, The Dorsey Brothers, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Frances Langford, Cab Calloway, and Sarah Vaughn among many others still known in American popular culture today.

[183][better source needed] Held annually since 1952 on the Sunday following St. Patrick's Day, the parade draws hundreds of thousands of people from across New England and the Eastern seaboard of United States.

[192] Every June since it was first introduced by mayor and LGBT activist Alex Morse in 2012, the city has held a rainbow flag-raising ceremony in recognition of Gay Pride Month with the event often featuring speakers, music, and a moment of silence for victims of discrimination and persecution.

[214][215] Most notably, Rocky Marciano's professional debut took place at the Valley Arena Gardens on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1947; the venue also served as the ring for many other well-known fighters including Beau Jack, Fritzie Zivic, and Tony DeMarco.

As the eighth ranked amateur super-heavyweight in the country at the age of 16, Tyson won the fight handily with a knock-out, and gained the Western Massachusetts Golden Gloves title.

[226] Wyckoff brought Ross back to the course, where he suggested key changes, but was unable to prepare plans as he had just signed a two-year contract as professional for the Essex Golf & Country Club.

[253] Following the collapse of Holyoke's industrial base in the 1970s, the city began to see civil unrest which gained notoriety both in state and national coverage; a wave of crime set in and the population declined nearly 20% from 1970 through 1990.

[255] Since 2011, state and federal authorities have worked with the Holyoke Police Department in a Safe Neighborhood Initiative, attempting to suppress gang violence and creating greater after-school programming and opportunities for at-risk youth.

The Holyoke Merry-Go-Round was also the setting of a music video sequence in the 2007 British documentary Young@Heart, chronicling a New England chorus of elders from Northampton who cover classic and contemporary rock songs.

[279] With renewed public interest in net neutrality, civic groups have rallied for the city to offer a limited or complete rollout of this fiber-to-the-home service in Holyoke and Chicopee.

[290] In an effort to make the mixed industrial and residential area around the canals more accessible, the city has in recent years constructed the eponymous Canalwalk, a series of walkways linking the downtown to The Flats and South Holyoke.

[295] Due to a combination of MassWildlife's Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, as well as public health protections for the watershed of the Holyoke Water Works, much of the city's area west of Interstate 91 is designated for limited development and often requires additional permitting.