Dock Square looking toward Union Street in Boston, in 1865. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.
The scene in 2014:
These photos were taken from almost the same spot as the ones in this photo, just slight ahead and to the right. The first one shows the variety of businesses that were located in Civil War-era downtown Boston, ranging from feathers and furniture to hardware and whips. The tracks in the foreground are for a horse-drawn trolley line; this was an early version of Boston’s present-day subway network, before the trolleys were electrified and put underground.