The eggs were perfectly over easy, the sausage was tasty, but the talk at Pat's in West Hatfield on Wednesday morning wasn't about the food. It was about the Hatfield school committee's recent decision to trim $162,000 from its budget for next year, in part by eliminating the town's band program. Our waitress, Becky, was particularly perturbed. Her best friend's husband is the band director whose job will be eliminated if the budget cutback goes through. And she feels the three-year-old band program was just gaining momentum, and has made a real difference to the town. At the end of her shift at Pat's, Becky was planning to visit the school superintendent to make him see the light. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that meeting.

Town politics in Western MA — they're particularly heated this year, as our newly-elected governor has been turning town governments upside down with rampant cuts to schools and social services. Politically speaking, things will undoubtedly get worse in Hatfield before they get better, but this town of 3,200 will survive. Hatfielders are a hardy breed.

Bordered by Whately on the north, Hadley on the east and south, and Northampton and Williamsburg on the west, Hatfield had its beginnings in 1660 as a Colonial settlement (part of which later become Hadley) shared with the Nonatuck Indians. The Nonatucks erected wigwams on the common and lived peacefully with the Colonials. In 1662, Thomas Meekins opened a gristmill on the Mill River and in 1669 added a sawmill. Throughout the 1700s, residents of this "prosperous town on a strong agricultural base" (as it was described) raised sheep and cattle. In fact, Hatfield became one of the primary suppliers of beef to the Continental Army. But it also gave its sons to the war effort. In 1776, 127 men out of a total population of 582 were serving in the army. In 1786, the town hosted a 50-community meeting of rebels involved in Shay's rebellion. However, when they weren't fighting or rebelling, Hatfielders grew corn and made brooms, which became a major town industry. Immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Canada, Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia, drawn to the area to work on the state railroads, set up farms in Hatfield, creating the largest immigrant population in Hampshire County. By 1905, their crops included wheat, onion and tobacco. Today, there are still more than 120 tobacco barns in Hatfield.

Two town residents who had achieved prosperity over the years shared their good fortune with their neighbors. Sophia Smith, the fourth of seven children born to Hatfield farmer Joseph Smith, received little education growing up, but her vociferous appetite for poetry, prose and journals of literary, social and political commentary led her in her will to establish Smith College. Smith's idea was to build a new kind of female institution, a college with the same curriculum and the same intellectual standards as those of Harvard and Amherst — in Hatfield. The venue was changed to Northampton, however, when her neighbor George Hubbard advised her that the air on Main Street was unhealthful for young ladies. This decision shocked Sophia's pastor, John M. Greene, who is regarded by many as the one who guided Smith to face up to the responsibilities inherent in her wealth by establishing the school. After Greene read the final will aloud to family and friends, a brief legal action ensued, but the will prevailed as amended, and the city of Northampton has since reaped the rewards of having Smith College in its community. Greene went on to become a trustee of Smith College from its founding in 1871 until his death in 1919.

The 1790 homestead of Sophia Smith survives at 22 Main Street in Hatfield. In 1915, the property was purchased by the Alumnae Association of Smith College and restored and furnished through loans, purchases and gifts. In 1946, the homestead was sold to the College outright.

The name of Hatfield's other town philanthropist is well known in the Valley — Caleb Cooley Dickinson. A successful farmer and businessman, the Hatfield native was regarded as quite eccentric. He never married and his relationships with his neighbors were characterized by a high degree of suspicion that they were trying to cheat him on business deals. His will, probated in 1882, left all of his money to the City of Northampton for the establishment of a hospital for the sick and poor of Hatfield, Whately and Northampton. He is said to have chosen Northampton because he felt that the men of Northampton could manage money better than his own Hatfield neighbors. The first patient was admitted to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in 1886.

Today, Hatfield remains in large part a rural farming community. Its main street retains its historic character with a dense concentration of well-preserved 18th and 19th century homes. It has a mix of family owned businesses, many along Route 5/10, and larger employers like C & S Wholesale Grocers. Along with Pat's, restaurants include Mama Maria's Pizza, The Hatfield Family Restaurant and the Smithsonian Bar & Grill.

Hatfield is also the home base for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. The Food Bank works behinds the scenes of nearly every charitable organization that provides food to people in need in Western MA. Its 420 member agency programs include soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters, childcare centers, and elder programs throughout Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. Each year, they distribute 6 million pounds of food to these agencies, donated from food manufacturers, wholesalers, supermarkets (Stop & Shop is one of their largest benefactors), and restaurants. The Food Bank also distributes USDA commodities purchase through a state program and fresh produce from the community-supported Food Bank Farm. The Food Bank organizes activities throughout the year, including Piece of the Pie day, an annual fall event during which area restaurants donate 10% of the day's sales to the Food Bank. Check their website — www.foodbankwma.org for more information.

One other interesting fact about Hatfield — it has a town song. Composed by Matthew Goldman, a town resident who runs a company called Your Song with his wife Charlene Korza, the four-minute anthem chronicles the 1677-78 Indian attacks, the separation of Hadley and Hatfield, and contributors to Hatfield's history like Sophia Smith. You can hear the song at www.your-song.com.

The music of Hatfield lives on, with or without a band program (though we're rooting for town residents to overturn the school committee's decision). It's one of the places that give the Pioneer Valley its distinct and charming small town character.

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