Snow Emergency in Effect — 11:00 PM Tuesday
On-street parking prohibited on posted emergency arteries. Move vehicles to municipal lots (Mellon, Columbus, McKay). Sidewalks must be cleared within 24 hours of storm's end per §235-12.
Capital Budget Public Hearing — March 26
The City Council invites comment on the FY26 capital plan. TY2013 bond refinancing is also on the agenda. All ward residents welcome; comment cards at the door.
Springfield Street Playground Re-Opens April 1
New equipment installed. Ribbon-cutting 11am; coffee provided by the Common Crow. Volunteers needed to spread woodchips on Saturday March 29 — bring gloves.
Permit Fees Updated — Effective April 1
Residential building permit base fee increases from $85 to $110. Electrical and plumbing fees unchanged. Schedule available at the Building Department, City Hall Room 207.
Pittsfield sits on the homelands of the Mohican people. Chartered in 1761 and named for British politician William Pitt the Elder, the town grew around the confluence of the east and west branches of the Housatonic River. For most of the 20th century, the city's pulse was set by the whistle of the General Electric plant — at its peak, the company employed over 13,000 people in Pittsfield and shaped nearly everything else. The plant closed in the late 1980s; the city is still, in many ways, working out what comes next.
- 1737 First permanent English settlement in the area, called "Pontoosuck" after the Mohican name for the meadow.
- 1761 Town chartered as "Pittsfield" by Governor Francis Bernard, naming it for William Pitt.
- 1891 City incorporated under a mayor–council form of government. Stanley S. Moseley serves as first mayor.
- 1903 Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company (later GE) opens its Pittsfield plant, transforming the city's economy and skyline for the next eighty years.
- 1942 Herman Melville writes Moby-Dick at Arrowhead, his Pittsfield farm; the view of Mount Greylock from his study window is said to resemble a whale.
- 1965 Bousquet Ski Area opens, the first commercial ski area in the Berkshires with snowmaking.
- 1987 GE announces closure of the Pittsfield transformer division; 3,200 jobs lost within 18 months.
- 2000 GE and EPA reach agreement on the Housatonic River PCB cleanup — one of the longest-running environmental remediation projects in New England.
- 2005 Berkshire Museum completes major renovation; Barrington Stage Company establishes permanent home on Union Street.
- 2024 Tyler Street revitalization plan breaks ground; new Berkshire Innovation Center opens on the former GE campus.
Pittsfield operates under a Plan D city charter, adopted in 1932. The Mayor serves a four-year term; the City Council has eleven members — seven elected from wards and four at-large — each serving two-year terms. The current mayor is Peter M. Marchetti, sworn in January 2024.
Peter M. Marchetti (D)
Michele L. Matiocco
Peter White (Ward 4)
Earle T. Persse III
Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D)
Paul W. Mark (D, Berkshire)
Richard Neal (D, MA-01)
Elizabeth Warren · Ed Markey
The city hosts Barrington Stage Company (a regional Tony-winner), the Berkshire Museum, the Colonial Theatre (restored 2006, said to be one of the best-preserved acoustic halls in New England), and Berkshire Theatre Group. Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick at Arrowhead, his house on Holmes Road — now a museum and the occasional site of staged readings each August.
October brings the Haunted Happenings walking tours through the downtown historic district. June is the Berkshire Jazz Festival at the Common. The farmers' market runs Saturday mornings April through October in the parking lot behind the Athenaeum.
- Berkshire Athenaeum (public library)
- Berkshire Museum — natural history & fine art
- Barrington Stage Company — Union Street
- Colonial Theatre — South Street
- Arrowhead — Herman Melville's home
- Bousquet Mountain — skiing & biking
- Berkshire Bike Path — Ashuwillticook Rail Trail
- Pittsfield Farmers' Market · Saturdays 9–1