[2][3] During King Philip’s War (1675–1676), British settlers forced a band of Indigenous people, led by Roaring Thunder, to jump to the water of the Chicopee River to escape their attackers (this place has since been called Indian Leap).

[4] Although plans were drawn up for settlement as early as 1685, within the original boundaries of Springfield, Massachusetts, the British first settled in Ludlow in 1751 as Stony Hill Parish.

[5] However, the town was later renamed Ludlow and incorporated as a separate entity in 1774, just before the breakout of the American Revolution.

[7] Then Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Thomas Hutchinson renamed the town from the District of Stony Hill to Ludlow.

This company helped shape the town by providing housing, a library, schools, playgrounds, and even a clubhouse for the increasingly diverse community.

[9] In the early 20th century Ludlow developed from a mill town into a streetcar suburb of Springfield, Massachusetts, with a trolley line running over the bridge from Indian Orchard.

The Springfield, Athol, and Northeastern Railroad was reduced in length in the late 1930s as a result of the creation of Quabbin Reservoir.

In 1981, the Stony Brook Power Plant was constructed in the town providing 517 Megawatts of electricity to 24 municipalities.

John F. Thompson, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Massachusetts General Court at the time, was influential in gaining an exit on the Turnpike for Ludlow (now Exit 54, formerly 7) and subsequently the Turnpike influenced the growth of Ludlow as a suburb of Springfield.

Ludlow is bordered by Chicopee on the west, Granby on the north, Belchertown on the northeast, Palmer on the east, Wilbraham on the south, and Springfield on the southwest.

[23] The Portuguese church Our Lady of Fatima puts on an annual Festa, which is one of the most significant cultural events for Portuguese-Americans in the country.

The town also features St. John the Baptist, a private school serving grades K–8 affiliated with St. Elizabeth Parish.

The at grade was later used as the Massachusetts Turnpike from the Chicopee border to the Minnechaog Mountain curve about where Miller and East streets are today and continued onto Palmer.