Springfield Massachusetts Archives - Page 65 of 97

Coombs Block, Springfield, Mass

April 24, 2016April 24, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The Coombs Block at the corner of Main and Park Streets in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The building in 2015:

Very little has changed in this view since the first photo was taken in the 1930s. The building here at 1049-1051 Main Street was built in 1914, and for many years it was used as a furniture store, as the sign in the first photo shows. In the 1940s, Hampden Furniture moved into this building and the adjoining one to the left, and they operated here until the company went out of business in 2007. The buildings were sold to the Caring Health Center, and despite suffering damage in the June 1, 2011 tornado, they were repaired and opened in 2014 as the Richard E. Neal Complex, named for the city’s former mayor and current Congressman.

John Avery House, Springfield, Mass

April 23, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The John Avery House at the corner of Main and Union Streets in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The building in 2015:

This brick commercial building at the corner of Main and Union Streets does not look particularly noteworthy, but it is actually one of the oldest buildings still standing on Main Street, although it hides its age very well. It was built around 1825 as the home of John Avery, a blacksmith who lived here for almost 50 years until his death in 1874.In 1898, as this section of Main Street became more commercial, the building was expanded all the way to the edge of Main Street, with storefronts on the first floor.

When the first photo was taken, the original house was still largely intact and clearly visible. However, the rear section was demolished by around the 1970s, and in 2011 much of the house, including the original roof, was destroyed by the tornado that passed through the South End. Today, the only visible remnant of the old house from this angle is the wall on the Union Street side of the building, which includes a single window and a doorway.

Tapley School, Springfield, Mass

April 23, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The Tapley School, at the corner of Bay and Sherman Streets in Springfield, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The building in 2015:

This historic building is located within the McKnight neighborhood of Springfield, which covers the area to the east of the Armory and north of State Street. As the city’s population grew in the 1870s, this area was developed by brothers John and William McKnight, who built around 300 houses here, most of which are still standing today.

To serve the growing population here, this school opened in 1887 at the corner of Bay and Sherman Streets, right at the heart of the neighborhood. It was expanded around 1910 with a large wing to the south, which is not visible in the present view, and it remained in use as a school well into the 1970s. After it closed, it was vacant for over a decade, but it was sold converted into apartments in 1993. Aside from the 1910 addition, the exterior is largely the same as it was when the first photo was taken, and today it is one of the oldest school buildings still standing in the city.

Julius H. Appleton House, Springfield, Mass

April 23, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The Julius H. Appleton House on Maple Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2015:

The late 1800s saw a number of mansions built along this section of Maple Street, where many of the city’s most prominent residents lived. Sadly, many of these homes are gone now, but one of the survivors is this mansion at 313 Maple Street, built in 1886 for Julius H. Appleton. It was designed by Eugene C. Gardner, a local architect who also built the recently-demolished YWCA Building on Howard Street. The architecture of the house reflects both Stick style and the related Queen Anne style, both of which were common at the end of the Victorian era in the late 1880s. It is wood-frame, with wood exteriors on the second and third floors, but the first floor exterior is made of brownstone quarried in nearby Longmeadow.

The original owner, Julius H. Appleton, had previously lived in this house on Union Street, and he was a businessman who was involved in a number of different companies. He ran a steam heating company for several years and later became involved in the paper industry, serving as president of the Riverside Paper Company. He was also president of the Hartford & Connecticut Western Railroad, and he served as a director for many area businesses, including Mass Mutual, the Springfield Street Railway Company, Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company, Chapman Valve Manufacturing Company, and many others. In addition to his business involvements, he also held several political offices, including serving for two years on the City Council and two years on the state Governor’s Council. Appleton died in 1904 at the age of 64, and his funeral, which was held here at his house, was attended by many distinguished guests, including Governor John L. Bates and former Governor Winthrop M. Crane.

The first photo shows the house over 30 years after Appleton’s death, but the exterior appearance was essentially the same. Even today, the house retains all of its original elements in this scene, including the tower, the two-story porch, the shorter turret to the left, and the semi-circular porch around it. The only major change to the property has been the carriage house, which is partially visible to the right beyond the house. The original one burned down around 1980, but the owners later built a replica on the same spot.

David Ames, Jr. House, Springfield, Mass

December 30, 2023April 13, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The David Ames, Jr. House, on Maple Street in Springfield, around 1893. Image from Sketches of the old inhabitants and other citizens of old Springfield (1893).

The house in 2015:

The house in 2023:

This historic house was built in 1826-1827, for David Ames. Jr., a local paper manufacturer. It was one of the first of many 19th century mansions to be built along this section of Maple Street, on a hill overlooking downtown Springfield and the Connecticut River. The house bears a strong resemblance to the smaller, older Alexander House, and it was designed by Chauncey Shepard, a young local architect who later built homes for many other notable residents, including Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson, whose pistol factory he also designed.

David Ames, Jr. came from a prominent industrial family. His father, David Ames, Sr., was the son of an iron mill owner, and David, Sr. began manufacturing shovels and guns during the American Revolution. In 1794, he was appointed by George Washington to serve as the first superintendent of the Springfield Armory, and after leaving his position in 1802 he began manufacturing paper. David, Jr. and his brother John followed in their father’s footsteps in the paper industry, and their company eventually operated mills in Springfield, Chicopee Falls, South Hadley Falls, Northampton, and Suffield.

In 1867, David, Jr. sold the house to his son-in-law, Solomon J. Gordon. Over 40 years after he first built it, Chauncey Shepard was then hired to extensively renovate the house, and the first photo here shows its appearance sometime after these significant alterations. David, Jr. continued to live here until his death in 1883 at the age of 91, and Solomon died just eight years later. The house remained in his family for some time after that, but it later became part of the MacDuffie School. In 2011, the school moved to a new location in Granby, but just before the move happened at the end of the school year, the Springfield campus was heavily damaged by the June 1 tornado. The tornado caused significant damage to the Ames House, including the loss of the front portico and much of the roof.

Nearly five years after the tornado, the house has still not been restored, and the above photos show the contrast between what it looked like before and after 2011. It is one of the most historically significant homes still standing in Springfield, though, and this year the Springfield Preservation Trust included the house on their annual Most Endangered Historic Resources list.

2023 update: As shown in the third photo, the house remains unrestored, although the windows have been boarded up since the 2015 photo was taken.

Red Men’s Wigwam, Springfield, Mass

April 13, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The Improved Order of Red Men building at the corner of Main and Stockbridge Streets in Springfield, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892)

The scene in 2015:

The caption from Picturesque Hampden does not provide any additional details beyond “Red Men’s Wigwam,” but this was evidently a lodge for the Improved Order of Red Men, a nationwide fraternal organization that was particularly popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The group had a structure and rituals similar to Freemasons and other similar societies, but used a number of pseudo-Native American rituals and terminology, including calling their local chapters “tribes,” which met in “wigwams” such as this one here in Springfield. However, at the time, the Improved Order of Red Men was only open to white men, an irony that was probably lost on most of its membership.

The organization still exists today, although in much smaller numbers than a century ago, but the building that once stood here is long gone. It was demolished by about 1902, when the present-day Colonial Block was built here. In 1905, the building was expanded to the right, where the old colonial-era George Bliss, Sr. house once stood. When the first photo was taken, the house was owned by McGregory & Casman Marble Works, which explains the many gravestones in front of it.