Month: July 2018

Elm and Prospect Streets, Northampton, Mass

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Looking north on Prospect Street from the corner of Elm Street, around 1894. Image from Northampton: The Meadow City (1894).

The scene in 2017:

The first photo shows Prospect Street as it appeared around 1894, with a small traffic island in the foreground and several houses in the distance on the left side of the street. At the time, the traffic island was significantly larger than it is now, and included a raised area with a fountain in the center. On the left side of the photo, the most visible building in the first photo is the Queen Anne-style house at 10 Prospect Street, which was built in 1882. It was the home of Alexander McCallum, a Canadian-born businessman who operated a dry goods store here in Northampton before entering the silk hosiery business. By the time the first photo was taken, he was the president of the McCallum Hosiery Company, which was reportedly the largest such company in the world.

Alexander McCallum remained president of the company until his death in 1919, and his widow Catherine continued to live here in this house until her death a decade later. The property was then acquired by Smith College and had several different uses over the years, including a students’ club and a faculty club, before finally becoming faculty offices. In the meantime, the college continued to expand, and today this entire section of Prospect Street, as far as Trumbull Road in the distance, is now part of the campus. On the far right in the present-day scene is the Northrop House, a residence hall that was completed in 1911, and on the opposite side of the photo, just west of the McCallum House, is Cutter House, which was built in 1957 as another residence hall.

Burnham School, Northampton, Mass

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The Burnham School on Elm Street in Northampton, around 1894. Image from Northampton: The Meadow City (1894).

The scene in 2017:

This house was built sometime around 1810, although it has been significantly altered over the years. It was originally the home of Elijah Hunt Mills, a lawyer and politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1815 to 1819, and in the U.S. Senate from 1820 to 1827. Mills was also one of the founders of the Northampton Law School, a short-lived but notable law school whose students included future president Franklin Pierce. Because of ill health, Mills retired from the Senate at the end of his term in 1827, and about a year later he left the Northampton Law School, which closed soon after. He lived here in this house until his death in 1829, and the house was subsequently owned by Thomas Napier, a Southerner who was was apparently a slave auctioneer and a vocal anti-abolitionist.

By the mid-19th century, this house was owned by Samuel L. Hinckley, whose occupation was described as “gentleman” in the 1860 census. Born Samuel Hinckley Lyman in 1810, he legally changed his name in 1831 at the request of his grandfather, Judge Samuel Hinckley, in order to carry on the Hinckley family name. After graduating from Williams College, Hinckley married Henrietta E. Rose, although they were married for less than a year before her death, soon after the birth of their only child, Henry. Hinckley later remarried to Ann L. Parker, and they had four children together. By the 1860 census, all seven family members were living here in this house, along with three servants. At the time, Hinckley’s real estate was valued at $15,000, plus a personal estate of $40,000, for a total net worth equal to about $1.5 million today.

The house was subsequently owned by Hinckley’s younger brother, Jonathan Huntington Lyman, a physician who was living here by the 1865 state census. He received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1840, and in 1847 he married his first wife, Julia Dwight. She came from a prominent family, and both of her grandfathers were among the most influential men in late 18th and early 19th century New England. Her father’s father was Timothy Dwight IV, the noted pastor, theologian, and author who served as president of Yale from 1795 to 1817, and her mother’s father was Caleb Strong, a Northampton lawyer who served as a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787, a U.S. senator from 1789 to 1796, and governor of Massachusetts from 1800 to 1807 and 1812 to 1816.

Jonathan and Julia Lyman had three children together, but Julia died of tuberculosis in 1853 at the age of 29. Two years later, he remarried to her older sister Mary, and by 1865 they were living here with Jonathan’s two surviving children, John and Francis, plus two servants. Francis died in 1871 from yellow fever at the age of 18, while in Brazil studying natural history, and John went on to become a physician, after graduating from Harvard Medical School in 1872.

In 1877, Jonathan sold the property to Mary A. Burnham, who established a school for girls here in this house. Originally called the Classical School for Girls, it opened in 1877 with the goal of preparing girls for the newly-established Smith College, located directly across the street from here. Only 22 students were enrolled during this first school year, but the school soon grew, and by the time the first photo was taken there were 175 students on a campus that included several other buildings. Mary Burnham died in 1885, and assistant principal Bessie T. Capen subsequently took over the school, which was renamed the Mary A. Burnham School in honor of its founder.

By the time the first photo was taken, very little remained of the house’s early 19th century appearance. It originally had Federal-style architecture, as seen with features such as the second-story Palladian window, but after its conversion to a school a wing was added to the right side, and the original part of the house was altered with a Mansard roof, dormer windows, and a tower above the main entrance.

The house would remain part of the Burnham School for many years, but in 1968 the school merged with the Stoneleigh-Prospect Hill School in Greenfield, forming the present-day Stoneleigh-Burnham School. The Northampton campus was then sold to Smith College, which converted this building into student housing. It is now known as the Chase House, in honor of writer and Smith professor Mary Ellen Chase, and it is attached to the neighboring Duckett House, just out of view to the right. Over the years, the house has lost some of its Victorian-era elements, particularly the tower, but it still stands today as one of many historic homes along Elm Street.

Elm Street, Northampton, Mass

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Looking northwest on Elm Street near Bedford Terrace in Northampton, around 1894. Image from Northampton: The Meadow City (1894).

The scene in 2017:

The first photo shows three 18th and early 19th century homes that once lined the eastern side of Elm Street, directly opposite the campus of Smith College. Starting on the far right, closest to the camera, was the Stoddard House, which was probably built sometime in the mid to late 18th century. Not to be confused with The Manse, an architecturally-similar home that was owned by Solomon Stoddard (1736-1824) and still stands on Prospect Street, this Elm Street house appears to have been owned by his son, Solomon Stoddard (1771-1860). The latter was the great-grandson of yet another Solomon Stoddard (1643-1729), a prominent theologian who had served as pastor of the Northampton church from 1672 until his death in 1729.

The younger Solomon Stoddard was a 1790 graduate of Yale, and he subsequently studied law under Northampton attorney, U.S. senator, and future Massachusetts governor Caleb Strong. Stoddard went on to have a successful career as a lawyer, and also served in a variety of roles in local government, including register of deeds, town clerk, chief justice of the court of sessions, court clerk, and state representative. He and his wife Sarah had eight children, and they lived here in this house until Sarah’s death in 1852 and Solomon’s death in 1860. The house was later sold to Smith College in 1885, and by the time the first photo was taken it was in use as residential building for students.

Just to the left of the Stoddard House, in the center of the first photo, is another 18th century home that was later converted into a Smith College residence. Supposedly built in 1710 by Isaac Clark, the house remained in his family for several generations, and by the mid-19th century was owned by Clark’s great-grandson, Justin Smith. Upon Smith’s death in 1880 he left half of the property to Smith College, under the condition that his sister, Mary Smith Tenney, would be allowed to live there for the rest of her life. During this time, she ran the house as an off-campus residence for Smith College students, and after her death the school took over the property and continued to operate it as a residential building, named the Tenney House.

The third building in the first photo, on the far left of the scene, was also a private home that later became part of Smith College. Built sometime in the early 19th century, this house was originally the home of Enos Clark, a church deacon who lived here until his death in 1864. The property remained in his family for several more decades, but in 1886 it was sold to Mary L. Southwick, who enlarged the house and converted it into another off-campus residence for Smith College students. Known as the Southwick House, it operated into the 20th century, but it was later purchased by the Burnham School, a college preparatory school for girls. The house remained part of the school campus until 1968, when Burnham merged with the Stoneleigh-Prospect Hill School in Greenfield, and it was then sold to Smith College and converted into the Duckett House.

Today, of the three buildings in the first photo, only the Duckett House remains. It is still in use as a Smith College residential building, housing 37 students, and it is connected to the adjacent Chase House, which is just out of view in the distance to the left. As for the other two historic houses, both the Stoddard House and the Tenney House were demolished in the mid-1930s to build the Alumnae House, which was completed in 1938. This building, with its two wings in the center and right side of the photo, is still standing today, and is still in use by the college.

St. Mary’s Church, Northampton, Mass

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The St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church on Elm Street in Northampton, around 1894. Image from Northampton: The Meadow City (1894).

The church in 2017:

Like most other New England communities, Northampton was predominantly Protestant throughout its first few centuries, but this began to change after the Industrial Revolution, when the region saw large-scale immigration from Catholic countries. Here in Northampton, most of the early Catholics were French-Canadian, and began arriving by the mid-19th century. Within a few decades there were several Catholic parishes in Northampton, including Saint Mary of the Assumption, whose church building was built here on Elm Street in 1881.

The church was designed by Patrick W. Ford, an Irish-born architect who was responsible for a number of Catholic churches in New England. Its polychromatic brick and brownstone exterior reflects the High Victorian Gothic style of the era, and it matches the design of College Hall at Smith College, which is located directly across the street from here. The front of the church is nearly symmetrical, although the left tower is slightly taller and wider than the one on the right. As the first photo shows, the towers did not initially have spires, although they were added a few years later in 1895 and were also designed by Ford.

Aside from the spires, the exterior of the church has not significantly changed in the 125 years since the first photo was taken. However, it is no longer in use as a church, after having been closed in 2010 along with a number of other Catholic churches in the Diocese of Springfield. Some of the parishioners appealed the closing, but the Vatican upheld the decision in 2015. The building has since been offered for sale, although it currently remains vacant, more than eight years after it closed.

Kendall House, Chicopee, Mass

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Looking south on Springfield Street, toward the Kendall House Hotel in Chicopee, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The scene in 2017:

This scene shows the view looking south on Springfield Street toward the center of Chicopee, with the Chicopee River behind the photographer and the Ames Manufacturing Company facility just out of view to the left. The most notable building in the first photo is the Kendall House hotel, which is seen on the left side of the photo, just beyond the bridge over the canal. The hotel was built around 1834-1835, by prominent businessman Chester W. Chapin, and it dates back to the early days of Chicopee’s industrial development. At the time, Chicopee was still part of Springfield, and this particular area was known as Cabotville. The village was named after the Cabot Manufacturing Company, which was, in turn, named for Boston merchant Samuel Cabot, and this hotel was likewise originally named the Cabot House.

As built, the Cabot House had a fairly plain, Federal-style exterior that was common for commercial buildings of the era, with a brick exterior, three and a half stories, and a gabled roof. It opened as the first hotel in Cabotville, and for the first few years it was operated by Gardner Kimball. In 1836, he hired Marvin Chapin (no close relation to Chester) as a clerk. A native of Somers, Connecticut, Marvin Chapin had just returned to the area after spending time on a surveying crew in Florida, and after just a few weeks here he purchased the Cabot House from Kimball. He and his brother Ethan operated the hotel for several years, but in 1842 they purchased property on Main Street in Springfield and built the Massasoit House, which opened the following year. The Massasoit House went on to become one of the leading hotels in Western Massachusetts, and the Chapins subsequently sold the Cabot House to Madison Kendall.

The hotel later became known as the Kendall House, and enjoyed a prominent location in the center of Chicopee. The Chicopee Falls Branch of the Connecticut River Railroad opened in 1845, with a depot directly in front of the hotel, and three years later Chicopee was incorporated as a separate town. The current City Hall was later built across the street from the Kendall House, and in the meantime the factories here along the riverfront continued to expand, placing the hotel in the center of the city’s industry, commerce, transportation, and government.

The first photo shows the Kendall House with its front section of three and a half stories, a rear section with two and a half stories, and a two-story porch. Adjacent to the hotel, in the center of the photo, was a similar building, known as Chapin’s Block, which was probably built around the same time as the Kendall House. The railroad depot is not visible from this angle, but the white crossing signs can be seen in the center and far left of the photo. The Ames Manufacturing Company, whose factory was soon to be purchased by Spalding, was located just to the left of this scene, and the Dwight Manufacturing Company was just to the right on the opposite side of Springfield Street. Some of the children on the street may have been child laborers for Dwight Manufacturing, similar to those who were documented by photographer Lewis Wickes Hine several decades later.

Around 125 years after the first photo was taken, this scene has changed significantly. Chapin’s Block in the center of the photo is long gone, as are the buildings further in the distance to the right. The road bridge over the canal is new, and the railroad tracks are no longer there, having last been used in 1983. However, the Kendall House is still standing, although it is significantly altered from its original appearance. The gabled roof was removed after a fire in the early 20th century, and replaced with a flat roof and a cornice. The front porch is also gone, and the back part of the building has since been expanded into three full stories. Until recently, the building housed Quicky’s Restaurant and 38 single room occupancy units, but in 2017 the interior was completely renovated and converted into 41 studio apartments.

Ames Manufacturing Company, Chicopee, Mass

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The Ames Manufacturing Company on Springfield Street in Chicopee, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The scene in 2017:

The origins of the Ames Manufacturing Company date back to 1822, when industrialist Edmund Dwight purchased property along the Chicopee River at Skenungonuck Falls, at the present-day village of Chicopee Falls. At the time, Chicopee was the sparsely-settled northern half of Springfield, but the Industrial Revolution helped to transform it into a major manufacturing center, thanks to the many waterfalls here on the Chicopee River. In 1823, Dwight incorporated the Boston and Springfield Manufacturing Company, and within a few years he had built a dam, a canal, and a mill at Chicopee Falls, marking the beginning of large-scale industry here in Chicopee.

In 1829, Dwight persuaded brothers Nathan P. and James T. Ames to relocate their cutlery business from Chelmsford to Chicopee Falls. He provided them with a blacksmith shop at his mill complex, rent-free for four years, and the brothers began operations here with a workforce of nine. The business rapidly expanded, though, and by 1833 they had 25 to 30 employees and were producing a wide variety of cutlery and tools, as well as swords for the Army and Navy.

The company was incorporated as the Ames Manufacturing Company in 1834, and the following year moved to this site further down the river. Known at the time as Cabotville, this village would later become the center of Chicopee when it was incorporated as a separate town in 1848. Here, the Chicopee River drops 50 feet in elevation, and both a dam and a canal were constructed in the early 1830s. At this new site, the company continued to grow and diversify, and by the end of the 1830s the Ames brothers were also producing cannons, cannonballs, bells, and a variety of other metal objects.

The first photo, taken in the early 1890s, shows the canal in the center and the Ames complex on the left. These buildings were constructed starting in 1847, with the oldest section visible just to the right of the tower. The facility was steadily expanded in the following decades, and was largely in its present form by the end of the Civil War. This era marked the heyday of Ames Manufacturing, which produced munitions during both the Mexican War and the Civil War. The Civil War in particular brought prosperity, and this facility became one of the war’s leading producers of swords, light artillery, and heavy ordnance.

During this period, the company also began casting bronze statues, beginning in 1853. Under the direction of foundry superintendent Silas Mosman, Jr., the company produced many important statues, including the Benjamin Franklin statue at Boston’s Old City Hall, the equestrian statues of George Washington at the Boston Public Garden and New York’s Union Square, the Minuteman statue at Concord, and the statues at Abraham Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, Illinois. However, perhaps Mosman’s most significant accomplishment was casting the bronze doors for the east wing of the U.S. Capitol, which were installed in 1867. In his later years, Silas Mosman was assisted in his work by his son, Melzar, who went on to have an accomplished career both designing and casting statues. He remained here at Ames until 1884, but subsequently left the firm and established his own foundry here in Chicopee.

Of the two Ames brothers, only James lived to see the company’s prosperity in the mid-19th century. Nathan died in 1847, at the age of 43, but James remained with the company until his retirement in 1872, a year before his death. However, by this point Ames Manufacturing was entering a decline. The Civil War had been a boon for business, but after the war the company struggled to adapt to peacetime demands. The factory produced a wide variety of metal products, from mailboxes to ice skates, and as late as the 1870s the company had major foreign contracts for bayonets, scabbards, and sabers. Starting in the early 1880s, Ames also produced bicycles for the Overman Wheel Company. This contract proved lucrative, as demand for bicycles skyrocketed during this period, but this high demand ultimately ended up hurting Ames when, in 1887, Overman opened its own bicycle factory in Chicopee Falls.

The first photo was taken several years later, by which point the company was in serious decline. Ames remained here for about 15 more years, but in 1908 the factory complex was sold to A. G. Spalding and Brothers. This sporting goods company had been established in Chicago in 1876 by baseball player Albert G. Spalding, and in 1893 the company began manufacturing its products in Chicopee Falls. After purchasing the Ames facility in 1908, Spalding set about expanding it, adding several new buildings, and for the next 40 years the factory produced a wide range of Spalding sporting goods. Among other things, Spalding supplied the baseballs for Major League Baseball for most of the 20th century, and these balls were produced here in Chicopee. Spalding was also an early leader in golf equipment, and at one point had an entire building dedicated to producing golf balls.

Spalding relocated to a new facility in Chicopee in 1948, but the old buildings continued to be used by a variety of industries until the 1980s, when the buildings were converted into a 138-unit apartment complex known as Ames Privilege. Despite the many changes in ownership and use, though, the former Ames facility has survived with few major changes over the years. It is hard to tell in the second photo, but the same buildings from the first photo still line the canal, and the only significant change is a fourth floor, which was added to the buildings sometime after the first photo was taken. Because of its level of preservation and its historical significance, the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.