Springfield was founded in 1636 by a company of settlers from Roxbury led by William Pynchon (1590-1662).
Pynchon, who had been one of the original patentees of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was dissatisfied with the government of Roxbury, of which he had been a founder.
In 1640 the name was changed to Springfield, after the native place of William Pynchon in Essex, England.
For several years Pynchon was the dominating influence in the colony, ruling it with the power of an autocrat.