Massachusetts

Amherst College Graduation, Amherst Mass

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Seniors marching in front of College Hall at Amherst College, around 1908. Historic image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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College Hall in 2015:

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These two photos show College Hall, an administrative office building at Amherst College that is also seen in this post.  It was built in 1829 as a church, and was later acquired by the school to use as an auditorium before being converted to offices in 1965.  The first view shows the seniors, probably the class of 1908, marching into the auditorium for the commencement ceremony.  I would imagine that this essentially the same as it would’ve looked 13 years earlier, when 22 year old Calvin Coolidge graduated from Amherst College.  By the time the first photo was taken, Coolidge was living a couple towns away in Northampton and representing them in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.  Probably the only major difference in the exterior of the building between Coolidge’s graduation and the present day came in 1905, when the portico was restored; it had been removed in 1861 before the school acquired the building.

College Hall, Amherst Mass

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College Hall on the Amherst College campus, at the corner of Northampton Road and South Pleasant Street in Amherst, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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College Hall in 2015:

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This building on the Amherst College campus is almost as old as the college itself, although it wasn’t originally built by the school.  Its architecture gives away its original use; it was built in 1829 as the meeting house of the First Congregational Church in Amherst.  However, the land itself was originally part of Amherst College – it was given to the church, who built the building, under the stipulation that the college be allowed to use it.  It was used as a church until 1866, when the land was sold back to the college and became College Hall.  It was used for commencements and other meetings, and saw some changes before the first photo was taken.  The portico had been removed in 1861, but was restored in 1905 as a gift from the class of 1884.  The biggest change, however, came in 1965, when the building was renovated into administrative offices.

Stockbridge Street, Springfield Mass

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Looking east on Stockbridge Street toward Main Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

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Stockbridge Street in 2023:

Like many other places in downtown Springfield, Stockbridge Street was once lined with three story brick commercial blocks, much like the ones seen in the 1930s view of the street.  This style appeared throughout the downtown area in the first half of the 19th century, when Springfield began growing into a major commercial and industrial center.  Early views of Court Square, Main Street, and other areas in downtown all feature plenty of examples of these buildings, but today only a few are left.  In the immediate downtown area, the last two are the Byers Block on Court Square, and the Guenther & Handel’s Block in this scene.

The Guenther & Handel’s Block was built in 1845, and as the 1930s photo shows, it was part of a row of similar buildings.  For many years, the ground floor was a grocery store and delicatessen, and in 1913 was sold to Emil Guenther and Richard Handel, who ran a grocery store under their names.  By the time the first photo was taken, both men had died, but the business was run by the family until 1972.  Today, all of the other mid-19th century buildings on the street are gone, and Guenther & Handel’s Block is wedged between an ornate early 20th century apartment building and a drab, nondescript late 20th century commercial building.

Old Corner Bookstore, Springfield Mass

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Springfield’s Old Corner Bookstore at the corner of Main and State Streets, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

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The scene in 2023:

Not to be confused with the more famous Old Corner Bookstore in Boston,this was never a gathering place for prominent 19th century authors, but the building did play a significant role in American literary history.  The building was built in 1834, and a year later George and Charles Merriam opened up a bookstore.  At first, they printed law books, Bibles, and other books, but they gained prominence after 1843, when they purchased the rights to Noah Webster’s dictionary.  By the time the first photo was taken, the company had moved directly across Main Street.  Today, the company is still in business, as Merriam-Webster, and their headquarters are still in Springfield, on Federal Street.

As for the building itself, it continued to be used as a bookstore and for publishing, even after the Merriams moved.  Around 1871, James L. Whitney and W. F. Adams took over the bookstore, and sold everything from blank stationery to school textbooks.  In 1884, King’s Hanbook of Springfield gave the business a glowing review, declaring that “The success of this house is largely due to the straightforward and honorable policy by which their affairs ever have been and are now conducted.”  The statement was likely made in all sincerity, too, since King’s Handbook of Springfield was published by one of their Springfield competitors, publisher James D. Gill.

Irrespective of their “straightforward and honorable” nature, however, the bookstore went out of business in 1894, and the building became home to the Old Corner Wall Paper Company.  The old building was demolished sometime between then and 1927, when the Shean Block seen in the present day photo was built.  The only building that can be seen in both photos is the Hampden County Courthouse; the top of the tower can be seen in the distance in the left center, between the chimneys in the 1892 photo and behind the Court Square Hotel today.

Old Church and Courthouse, Northampton, Mass

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Looking up Main Street from Pleasant Street in Northampton, toward the old church and courthouse in 1864. Photo from Reminiscences of Old Northampton (1902).

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The location in 2018:

The 1864 photo is one of the oldest existing photographs of downtown Northampton, and none of the buildings from that scene survive today, 151 years later.  To the left in the 1864 photo is the old church, which was built in 1812.  It was Northampton’s fourth meeting house, and it replaced the 1737 building that had been built during the pastorate of Jonathan Edwards.  It was from here that the influential pastor and theologian helped to spark the Great Awakening revival that spread across the American colonies and in Europe, but by the turn of the century the town was in need of a new building.  The 1812 church was designed by Northampton architect Isaac Damon, who just a few years later would design Old First Church in Springfield, 15 miles to the south.  However, while Old First Church survives to this day, the Northampton church seen in the 1864 photo burned in 1876, and was replaced two years later by the current brownstone church.

On the far right of the 1864 photo is the old Hampshire County Courthouse.  I don’t know when it was built, but it is virtually identical to the 1821 Hampden County Courthouse, seen on the far left of the 1882 photo in this post.  Because of its similar appearance, the Hampshire County Courthouse was probably built around the same time, shortly after some major changes to the county’s borders.  Originally, Hampshire County included all of Western Massachusetts, but it was steadily broken up into multiple counties, beginning in 1761 when Berkshire County was established to the west.  Then in 1811, Franklin County was created in the northern part of the Connecticut River Valley with Greenfield as the county seat, and a year later Hampden County split off to the south, with Springfield as the county seat.  I don’t know what happened to the old courthouse seen here, but it was gone by 1886, when the present-day Hampshire County Courthouse opened on roughly the same spot at the corner of Main and King Streets.

In between the two prominent buildings in the 1864 scene is a relatively small commercial block, the Whitney Building.  The photograph was actually commissioned by George D. Eames, the owner of the building, and was probably intended to advertise the building’s prominent location in town.  Part of the building housed the offices of the Hampshire Gazette, and the newspaper was published in the basement.  This is evidently the reason for the large sign on the building that reads “Caloric Printing Establishment.”  The Whitney Building was demolished in 1876, and a bank building was put in its place.  Today, the 1916 Northampton Institute for Savings building occupies the site where the Whitney Building once stood.

Hollister Block, Wilbraham Mass

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The Hollister Block on Boston Road in North Wilbraham, probably around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

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The building in 2015:507_2015

This building at the corner of Boston Road and Chapel Street was built around 1895, and in the early 20th century it was used as a drugstore and post office. In the first scene, the left-hand storefront is home to James Egan’s drugstore, and the window displays prominent lettering indicating that Moxie was available there. like other early sodas, Moxie was originally marketed as a medication; in the late 1800s it was called Moxie Nerve Food, and an 1896 ad claims it to be “The most healthful thing you can drink,” and was helpful in “keeping the blood cool, the stomach in order, and the nervous system properly nourished. The same ad also warned the public to “Beware of worthless imitations”, so apparently it was the habit of some unscrupulous druggists to serve generic brand Moxie to their customers; certainly one hopes that only genuine Moxie was sold to Mr. Egan’s customers here.

Today’s scene shows some exterior alterations to the building, but certainly nothing too dramatic.  The building’s two storefronts are still in use, and an antique store now occupies the space that was once the home of Egan’s drugstore. Moxie is no longer served in the building, but the company is still in business.  It no longer claims to have any medicinal value, and its popularity is nowhere near what it was a century ago, but it is still sold in the New England area and is one of the oldest existing soft drink brands in the country.