Chicopee has a strong diversified economic base. Manufacturing provides more than 25% of employment, followed by trade and services. The city continues building a modern base, adding new jobs and thousands of square feet of new industrial, business, and commercial space every year. Chicopee’s newest commercial complex is the Chicopee River Business Park. The park includes almost 200 acres located on the Chicopee River. Infrastructure is complete and sites are available for development.

Old mill buildings provide unique and inexpensive opportunities for business start-ups with assistance - financial, planning, permitting and training - available from a variety of area institutions. An excellent example of this is the Dwight Manufacturing Company, now Cabotville Industrial Park. A variety of small and medium-sized industries flourish in this large 19th Century, brick multi-tenant manufacturing facility.

Chicopee’s business mix includes international headquarters, branch plants and subsidiaries of high-profile companies. The city is also proud of its many homegrown industries. Fun facts from Chicopee’s industrial history include invention of the first friction match, the famous Duryea car, celebrated bronze doors and statuary, and Civil War cannons, swords and guns now displayed in museums all over the world.

Westover Air Reserve Base is the nation’s largest Air Force Reserve facility. Currently, 2,500 reservists are assigned to the 439th Airlift Wing. They train one weekend a month and serve a 15-day annual tour of duty. In addition to Air Force Reservists, Marine Corps, Army, Navy and National Guard personnel bring the base’s population to about 4,000 on drill weekends.

The base has been in operation since 1940 and served as a major bomber-training site during World War II. Since 1974, Westover has been an Air Force Reserve base. Today, the 439th Airlift Wing operates 16 C-5A Galaxies, the largest aircraft in the Air Force inventory.

The base is operated on a day-to-day basis by a work force of about 1,000 civilians and 500 Air Reserve Technicians or full-time reservists. During fiscal year 1999, $134,641,470 flowed into the economy of Western Massachusetts from the base. Westover’s total annual income is over $70 million.

One of America’s greatest inventions, the gasoline-powered automobile got its start in Chicopee. The Duryea brothers, Charles and Frank, planned and designed the Duryea gasoline-powered automobile in their boarding house on Front Street. They collaborated on building the engine in a backyard shed at 339 Front Street.

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