Beautiful Babcock Brook with its turquoise serpentine rock at the Keystone Arch Bridges Trail in Chester.  The Serpentine vien runs down from the Middlefield line where this rock was mined then crushed at his plant on Emery Street to make green dye for the first dollar bills, first in the country. In 1852, Dr. Lucas developed a process to extract a stable green dye, known as Hampden Green, from local serpentine. This dye was later used by the federal government to produce the country’s first greenback currency. The Serpentine Paint and Fire-Brick Company was formed by Dr. Lucas to utilize the mineral for paint and commercial Epsom Salts. The company eventually relocated to Springfield as the Hampden Paint and Chemical Company.

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