Springfield Skyline (1)

Springfield, as it looked from across the river around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

056_1900-1910-2Bloc

The same view in 2010:

056_2010

It’s a good thing that Old First Church and the Hampden County Courthouse still exist – otherwise it would’ve been very difficult to pin down exactly what part of Springfield is seen in the early 20th century photo.  In addition, the old Court Square Building is barely visible in between those two buildings in photos.  There are some parts of Springfield that still look similar to how they were 100 years ago, but downtown isn’t one of them.  Along with the skyscrapers and modern hotels that now sit directly across the river, there is also the Memorial Bridge, which wouldn’t exist for another 10+ years from the first photo.  Instead, travelers would cross the river slightly upstream of the current bridge, on a terrifyingly rickety-looking covered bridge that I will probably cover in a future post.  The other big change in the past century was the elevated I-91 viaduct along the Connecticut River, which replaced the railroad as both the prominent feature along the river and also the way that most people traveled from Springfield to points north and south.

North End, Boston

The view of the North End in Boston, from Boston Harbor, around 1930. Image courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

050_1930-2Bbpl

The scene in 2021:

These two photos show the North End of Boston from across the harbor at Charlestown Navy Yard. Many of the buildings in the North End are still there today, but the Boston skyline behind it has been completely changed – the once prominent Custom House Tower now blends in with the rest of the skyscrapers in downtown, although Old North Church in the foreground still stands out among the low-rises in the North End.

Brooklyn Bridge, New York

The Brooklyn Bridge from the south, as it appeared around 1904. The towers of the Williamsburg Bridge are barely visible in the distance. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

016_1904c-2Bloc

The same view in February, 2012:

016_2012

The Brooklyn Bridge hasn’t changed much in the past 108 years, but its surroundings have.  In addition to the Manhattan Bridge behind it, the skyline of the Lower East Side has also substantially changed, with high-rises covering much of the shoreline in this area.

Lower Manhattan

The view of Lower Manhattan in 1900, as seen from the water looking towards the Staten Island ferry terminal. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

015_1900c-2Bloc

A very similar view, taken in 2012:

015_2012

The angles here aren’t perfect: the first photo was taken a little closer to Manhattan and a little further to the east of where this one was taken – the ferry terminals on the right hand side of the 2012 photo are (as far as I can tell) in the same spot as the foreground of the 1900 photo. Still, the two photos capture the same general idea – that Lower Manhattan has changed a lot in the past 100+ years.  One of the challenges in identifying exactly what view the 1900 picture shows is that I cannot identify a single building that still exists today.  Several notable buildings are visible, such as the Manhattan Life Insurance Building (the tall tower in the distance, almost in the exact center of the photo), which is roughly in the same spot as 1 Wall Street, a rather unassuming light brown tower visible on the left-hand side of the 2012 photo.