Derek Strahan

Aside from running the Lost New England blog, Derek Strahan is the author of two books: Lost Springfield, Massachusetts and New England Then and Now, along with being the host of the Western Mass History podcast. Derek is a graduate of Westfield State University, with degrees in English and Regional Planning, and he currently works as a land use and environment planner in Western Massachusetts. Derek also serves on the board of directors of the Springfield Preservation Trust, and he lives in Western Massachusetts with his wife Melissa and their two sons.

Main Street, Laconia, NH

July 31, 2016July 28, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on Main Street in Laconia at the intersection of Pleasant Street, probably in 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Main Street in 2015:

As far as I can tell, only one building from the first scene survives today: the brick building on the left side of Main Street, just to the right of the center in both photos. As was the case in many other parts of the country during the 1960s, a number of Laconia’s historic downtown buildings were destroyed as part of an urban renewal project. However, the most prominent building in the first scene, the Eagle Hotel, was gone before then. It enjoyed a prominent location right at the intersection of Main and Pleasant Streets, and was just a block away from the railroad station. Around the time that the first photo was taken, it was one of Laconia’s most popular hotels (and, at $2.50 a day, one of its most expensive as well). By the 1950s, the former hotel had been demolished and replaced by Woolworth’s, as seen in some of the pre-urban renewal photos featured on this Weirs Beach website. Today, the site is occupied by a one story brick building with commercial storefronts. This might be the same building that Woolworth’s was once in, but if so it has been heavily modified over the years.

Part of the urban renewal projects involved changing some of the traffic patterns in downtown Laconia. Today, Main Street south of here (behind the photographer) is a narrow, single lane one way street that carries northbound traffic. The buildings on the left-hand side of the street in that section extend about 40 feet closer to the center of the road than the pre-renewal buildings did. In this scene, the road is as wide as it was a century ago, but it still has just one way northbound traffic, with angled on-street parking taking up what was once the southbound travel lane. Pleasant Street is now one way, southbound, and any traffic on the street must circle around the former Woolworth’s site and head back north on Main Street.

Although the first scene is mostly deserted, there are a few interesting things going on. The man on the far left appears to be a street sweeper; he is pushing what looks like a large, wheeled canvas bag while holding a broom and probably a pick. He is looking at the ground, and it seems like he is about to walk into the path of the oncoming trolley. The trolley has a handbill on the front, advertising for “Adrift in New York,” which would be showing at the Moulton Opera House on Tuesday, September 17. The Library of Congress estimates that the this photo was taken in 1908, but September 17 fell on a Tuesday in 1907, so the photo was probably taken in early to mid September of that year. Plays weren’t the only form of entertainment that was available at the Moulton Opera House, though; a sign on the sidewalk reads “Don’t Fail to See the Great Moving Pictures Tonight.” The “moving pictures” would have been early silent films, most of which were not preserved and have long since been lost to history. Likewise, the trolleys have been lost to history; the Laconia Street Railway shut down in 1925 amid growing competition from cars and buses.

Railroad Station, Laconia, NH

July 28, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Laconia Passenger Station, around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The station in 2015:

Because railroads were the dominant form of transportation in the second half of the 19th century, a city’s railroad station was usually the first thing that visitors saw. As such, it was important to make a good first impression, so in 1892 Laconia’s previously humble railroad station was replaced by a far larger, more impressive one. It was designed by Bradford Gilbert, who drew heavily on the Romanesque style that had been made popular by recently-deceased architect Henry Hobson Richardson. In fact, the Laconia station bears some resemblance to the old Union Station in Springfield, Massachusetts, which had been built three years earlier by Richardson’s successors at Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge.

The station was owned by the Boston and Maine Railroad, and it was located on the main route to Lake Winnipesaukee and the White Mountains. However, with the decline of passenger rail by the mid 20th century, the station eventually closed. Boston and Maine ran their last passenger train through here in January 1965, and since then the building has been used for a variety of purposes, from a police station and courthouse to offices and stores. Today, it relatively unaltered from its appearance over a century ago, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Library and Baptist Church, Meredith, NH

July 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Benjamin M. Smith Memorial Library and the Baptist Church, at the corner of Main Street and High Street in Meredith, around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The buildings in 2015:

Meredith’s public library is one of two buildings in the town that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It opened in 1901, and like many other public libraries of the era it was donated by a wealthy philanthropist, Benjamin M. Smith of Beverly, Massachusetts. He had once lived in Meredith, and had the library built in memory of his parents, John and Mary Smith. Over the past century, the Main Street facade has been virtually unchanged, although in 1988 a large addition was put on to the building to the right. This addition block the view of the Baptist Church from this angle, except for the top of the spire. The church is actually much older than the library; it was built in 1834, and today it continues to be used by the First Baptist Church of Meredith.

Main Street, Plymouth, NH (2)

July 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking south on Main Street in Plymouth, toward the town common, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company.

Main Street in 2015:

These photos show the town common and some of the buildings on the west side of Main Street, which today comprise part of the Plymouth Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Despite the historic district designation, however, not much in this scene dates back to the 1908 photo. The only building in both photos is the 1885 Pemigewasset National Bank Building, which can barely be seen behind some of the trees on the right-hand side of the photos. It is still there, but it hasn’t been used as a bank since 1955, when the bank moved to a new building on Highland Street; it is barely visible south of the common, beyond the “Do Not Enter” sign in the left center. The new bank building opened with much fanfare, with President Eisenhower cutting the ribbon at a ceremony that also included the governor, one of New Hampshire’s U.S. representatives, and both of their senators. The 2015 photo in this post provides a better view of the building, which today is home to Northway Bank.

The town common is also part of the historic district, and although all of the original elm trees are gone, the original 1861 fence is still there. It’s hard to see, but there is a bandstand on the common that was designed and built in 1903 by Francis V. Bulfinch, the grandson of noted architect Charles Bulfinch. It is still standing, but it’s almost impossible to see from this angle because of the trees. Across the street from the common, in the right center of the photo, is the post office. It was built in 1936, replacing an earlier brick commercial block seen in the 1908 photo, and it is one of the contributing properties in the historic district.

Main Street, Plymouth, NH (1)

July 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The east side of Main Street in Plymouth, seen from the corner of Court Street around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Main Street in 2015:

The first photo shows a town center in transition. On the far left is an old house, which probably dates to the early 1800s. This was likely one of many that once lined Main Street, but over time they were replaced with brick commercial blocks, like the 1898 Rollins Building that appears in the center of both photos. Eventually, the house would be demolished and replaced by more commercial storefronts, which today make up the bulk of the east side of Main Street in the downtown area. The days were also numbered for the Pemigewasset House, the hotel seen in the distance on the right side of the photo. It was built in 1863 and burned down in early 1909, probably less than a year after the photo was taken.

Aside from the transition from residential to commercial buildings on Main Street, we also see changes in transportation. The wood-framed commercial block just to the right of the Rollins Building has a sign out front that reads “Automobiles Stop Here for Gasolene,” and there is at least one car in the scene, on the far right. However, the photo also includes several horse-drawn carriages that would have had no use for the “gasolene,” and would have instead used the watering trough in the middle of the street in the center of the photo.

Today, all of the buildings are gone except for the Rollins Building. When the first photo was taken, the left storefront was the Fred W. Brown drugstore, which according to the sign on the left side of the building offered “Lowney’s Chocolate Bonbons.” The storefront to the right was a market, and tables of produce can be seen under the awning. More than a century later, the building is still used as a grocery store, the Chase Street Market.

Church and Courthouse, Plymouth NH

July 28, 2018July 26, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Congregational Church and Courthouse in Plymouth, around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The buildings in 2018:

Plymouth was founded in 1763, and just a year later the first church was established. The church building in the first photo was the congregation’s third building, and was completed in 1837. It was built right next to the courthouse, which at the time was a brick Greek Revival style building with pillars at the front entrance and a cupola on the roof. This building had been built in 1823 to replace the original county courthouse, but was demolished by 1890, when the courthouse in the first photo was built. The original 1774 courthouse can actually be seen in the first photo – it is the one story wooden building directly behind and to the right of the courthouse. It had been moved there in the 1870s to use as a public library, and it remains there today.

Today, the buildings are partially obscured by trees, so it is hard to tell that the present-day church isn’t the same one. The 1837 church burned in 1983, and was rebuilt on the same foundation. The 1890 courthouse is still there, but its use has changed. Other than the tower now being enclosed, the exterior does not appear to have changed much over the past century, but the historic building is now the Plymouth town hall, and the grounds now include monuments to veterans of wars that had not yet been fought when the first photo was taken.