Detroit Publishing Company

Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont (3)

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Another scene on Main Street in Brattleboro around 1907, looking north toward the corner of Main and High Streets. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The scene in 2014:

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Unlike the other two 1907 photos of Brattleboro here and here, this scene actually shows some substantial changes over the years. Barely visible on the far right is the Vermont Savings Bank Block, which was built in 1869 with the ornate facade.  The building is actually still there, but the facade was reconstructed in 1935.  To the left of it is a modern commercial building, and past it is the c.1850 Paramount Theatre building, which was significantly reconstructed in 1937 and converted into a movie theater.  Further down Main Street is the Centre Congregational Church, which was built in 1843 and has seen several alterations over the years.

Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont (2)

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Looking up Main Street in Brattleboro from the corner of Canal Street, around 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The scene in 2014:

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This view gives a good overview of the architecture on the east side of Main Street, very little of which has changed in the past century.  Many of the buildings were even fairly old when the first photo was taken, including the circa 1850 Van Doorn/Culver Block in the center of the 2014 photo.  Beyond it are several commercial blocks from around the turn of the century, and the oldest buildings are at the top of the hill and date to around 1840-1845, making them probably the oldest commercial buildings in downtown.  With the exception of the building on the right-hand side in the foreground of the 1907 photo, all of the buildings still exist today, forming part of the Downtown Brattleboro Historic District.

Main Street, Brattleboro, Vermont (1)

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Main Street in Brattleboro, Vermont, looking north from Elliot Street around 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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Main Street in 2014:

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The trolleys are gone, and there are a few more cars in the 2014 photo, but otherwise this scene hasn’t changed a whole lot.  It appears as though all of the buildings are still there, and for the most part the exteriors remain largely unaltered.  The only obvious exceptions are a couple with reconstructed fourth floors.  The field stone building on the far right (built around 1850) has had its elegant mansard roof replaced with some sort of architectural monstrosity that doesn’t even come close to matching the rest of the building.  Another building further down Main Street was built around the same time, and had its gabled roof replaced by a full fourth story around 1920, making it blend in with the rest of the street.

Public Garden Incline, Boston (2)

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Trolleys at the Public Garden Incline at the corner of Boylston and Arlington Streets in Boston, around 1910-1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The scene in 2014:

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These were taken from near the location of the photos in this post, showing trolleys entering and emerging from the Tremont Street Subway onto Boylston Street.  The car on the right-hand side is returning from Brookline Village, and the one on the left is heading toward Huntington Avenue, along the modern-day E Branch of the Green Line.  This car is particularly intriguing, because one of the flyers on the front reads “Baseball to-day American League Huntington Avenue,” The exact date of this photo isn’t clear, and the Library of Congress estimates that it was taken between 1910 and 1920, but this little flyer indicates that it couldn’t have been any later than 1911, the last year that the Red Sox played at Huntington Avenue before moving to Fenway Park.  Many of the people on the trolley are probably fans heading to the game, and will likely see future Red Sox legends such Smoky Joe Wood, Tris Speaker, and Harry Hooper.  Today, Red Sox fans still travel along this route to get to the game, although the incline that the trolleys once emerged from has been closed for a century, and no evidence remains on the surface that it ever existed.

Public Garden Incline, Boston (1)

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Trolleys entering and exiting the Tremont Street Subway at its southern end at the Boston Public Garden, around 1904. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The scene in 2014:

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When the Tremont Street Subway opened in 1897 as the first subway in the country, trolleys ran underground from downtown all the way until the corner of Arlington and Boylston, where the tracks emerged here and continued along Boylston Street to points west.  The three cars in the first photo represent three different routes, with the one on the far right returning from Newton, the one ahead of it coming from Roxbury, and the one in distance is heading toward Huntington Avenue.  Today’s Green Line still has four different branches, all that is left of what was once a much larger streetcar system.  The subway portal itself closed in 1914, when the subway was extended under Boylston Street to Kenmore, and no evidence remains on the surface to suggest that trolleys once emerged here from underground.

Tremont Street Mall, Boston

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Looking up Tremont Street toward Park Street along Boston Common, around 1899. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The scene in 2014:

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Similar to the scenes in this post, these photos show the view looking along Boston Common toward Park Street Church.  Not much has changed on the Common, but this section of Tremont Street is very different from its appearance 115 years ago; high-rise buildings have long since replaced the old 4-5 story commercial buildings of the 19th century.  A few buildings are visible in the distance, though – in particular, Park Street Church, and also the Tremont Building behind it.