1880s Archives - Page 19 of 21

Birthplace of Basketball, Springfield, Mass (1)

June 28, 2023March 23, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The School for Christian Workers Building, located at the corner of State Street and Sherman Street in Springfield, Mass, in 1886. Photo courtesy of Springfield College, Babson Library, Archives and Special Collections.

The scene in 2023:

This building was completed in 1886 as the School for Christian Workers, with the goal of training Sunday school superintendent and YMCA administrators. The YMCA program ended up being particularly successful, and in 1890 it became a separate organization here in this building, the YMCA Training School. The school would only be located in the building for several years, before moving to the modern-day Springfield College campus, but it was here that the school became famous as the birthplace of basketball.

Among the instructors here was Canadian graduate student James Naismith. During the fall of 1891 he was teaching a physical education class, but was having difficulty keeping the students engaged in an indoor sport during the colder months. At the time, the two most popular sports were baseball and football, but neither could realistically be played in a sixty- by thirty-foot gymnasium. Naismith initially tried to modify these sports for indoor play, but he found little success. So, he instead developed a completely new sport, which involved throwing a soccer ball into peach baskets that were mounted to the gallery that was located 10 feet above the gymnasium.

The first game of basketball was played here in this building on December 21, 1891, with a final score of 1-0. It proved to be popular, and not only among the YMCA students here, but also among the women who taught across the street at the Buckingham School. This new sport soon began to draw spectators, including one game in March 1892 that drew over 200 spectators to watch the faculty play against the students. This is generally considered to be the first public basketball game, and it is one of only two basketball games that James Naismith every personally played in. He and the other teachers ultimately lost 5-1 against the students, with former Yale football star Amos Alonzo Stagg scoring the only basket for the faculty.

Basketball would continue to grow in popularity around the country over the next few years, and in the meantime the YMCA Training School was outgrowing its original facility here on State Street. By 1896 the school had relocated to a new campus along the edge of the Watershops Pond, and it was eventually renamed Springfield College in 1954. The older building here on State Street eventually became a rooming house by 1910, but it closed in 1961 and was heavily damaged by a fire later in the year. It was subsequently demolished to make way for a parking lot for a shopping plaza, and a McDonald’s was later constructed on the site in 1995, as shown in the present-day photo.

Corner of Main & State Streets, Springfield

January 24, 2016January 13, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The northeast corner of Main and State in Springfield, sometime in the 19th century. Photo from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The same location, around 1892. Photo from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The corner in 2014:

Many of these Springfield street scenes follow a predictable pattern over the past 150 years or so – first, a pre-Civil War Federal style commercial block, followed by a larger, more ornate building in the latter part of the 19th century, and finally some sort of modern, 20th century structure. In this case, we clearly see all three generations of commercial development at the corner of Main and State, culminating with the MassMutual Center of the 1970s. Of particular interest is the building in the second photo – above the entrance is a sign that reads “G. & C. Merriam & Co Publishers,” the publishers of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Today, the company is still headquartered in Springfield, just up the hill on Federal Street. See this post and this post for a few other angles of the neighborhood that is now the MassMutual Center.

Chicopee Bank Building, Springfield

January 24, 2016January 12, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The Chicopee Bank Building, at the corner of Main and Elm, sometime before 1889. Photo from Springfield Present and Prospective (1905).

The same location, between 1889 and 1895. Photo courtesy of James Ward Birchall Collection.

The scene in 2014:

The original building was built in 1835, at the same time as the other three-story commercial buildings on and around Court Square. It was demolished in 1889 and replaced by the current structure, which survives with minimal changes. The building to the left, however, has been trimmed down in height. On the other side, along Elm Street, the 1835 Byers Block survives as a remnant of what the old Chicopee Bank building once looked like.

Court Square, Springfield (6)

January 24, 2016January 12, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Springfield’s Court Square, sometime in the 1880s or earlier. Photo from Springfield Present and Prospective (1905).

The scene in the 1890s. Photo from Our County and Its People: A History of Hampden County, Massachusetts (1902).

The scene in 2014:

The three photos show the progression of the appearance of Court Square in the past 125+ years. In the first photo, the buildings along Elm Street are all 1830’s-era three story commercial buildings, most of which were replaced by the Court Square Theater in 1892, which can be seen in the second photo, a rare view of the building before the 1900 expansion on the right side. That is essentially the only change between the second photo and today’s scene – not much has changed with the four major buildings in this angle. One notable survivor on the far left is the Byers Block, which was built in 1835 and is the last remaining part of the Elm Street commercial blocks from the first photo. Wedged in between two much larger late 19th century building, it is the oldest surviving commercial building in the city, although not the oldest building in the photo – Old First Church on the far right dates to 1819.

Monson Academy, Monson, Mass.

January 24, 2016January 12, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The old Monson Academy building, prior to the 1880s. Photo from Our County and Its People: A History of Hampden County, Massachusetts (1902).

The second Monson Academy building, probably around 1900. Photo from Our County and Its People: A History of Hampden County, Massachusetts (1902).

The same site in 2010:

And one year later, following the June 1, 2011 tornado:

Monson Academy was founded in 1804, when the building in the first photo was built. It served as the main building until 1886, when it was destroyed in a fire. It was replaced by the building in the second photo, which also burned, in 1953. Finally, in 1961, the building in the last two photos, Harper Gumnasium, was built on the site. Barely visible to the right of the Harper Gymnasium is the much-older Holmes Gymnasium, which was built in 1900. Both buildings were destroyed by the June 1, 2011 tornado, and were demolished the following year.

View from Bunker Hill Monument, Boston (5)

January 23, 2016January 1, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The view from the Bunker Hill Monument, sometime between the 1860s and 1880s. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

The view in 2010:

This view is zoomed in on the Boston Navy Yard, and some of the buildings are easily identifiable in both – in fact, all four of the visible shipyard buildings in the 2010 photo are also in the first photo. Further away, in East Boston, much of the land in the 2010 is new – the harbor was filled in to create Logan International Airport. One of the runways is barely visible in the upper center.

In the navy yard, the ship visible on the far right of the 2010 photo is the World War II-era destroyer USS Cassin Young. It contrasts sharply to the wooden sailing ship in the first photo, which I believe is the USS Ohio, a ship of the line built in 1820. By the time this photo was taken, she was being used as a receiving ship. The Ohio was in Boston from 1850 until 1883, when she was sold and burned for scrap metal.