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Amherst, Massachusetts, was a small village in 1891, but it retained a vibrancy beyond its size due to the presence of two noted colleges. On the north side of the village was the Massachusetts Agricultural College, one of the first Morrill Land Grant funded schools, established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1864. In 1947, the Agricultural College became the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. On what was then the southern edge of the village center, just south of the Commons, was Amherst College, the village's first. Amherst College was founded in 1820 and chartered in 1825. The town of Amherst in 1891 was also home to a number of industries, most prominently the straw hat industry, which was producing more than 144,000 hats a year.

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