1890s Archives - Page 54 of 66

State and Main Streets, Springfield Mass

July 21, 2015May 29, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Foot’s Block at the southwest corner of State and Main Streets in Springfield, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The location around 1910. Image from View Book of Springfield (1910)

The building in 2015:

The site now occupied by 1200 Main Street has had its share of historic buildings over the years. Thomas Bates built a tavern here in 1773, which operated well into the 19th century. On the surface, it was a popular stagecoach tavern that regularly entertained visiting dignitaries like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. However, it also operated clandestinely a stop on the Underground Railroad. It stood here until 1847, when it was moved a few lots west on State Street, as seen in this post, which gives more details about its history.

After the old tavern was moved in 1847, businessman Homer Foot built Foot’s Block, the building seen in the 1892 photo here. It didn’t take long for Foot to find tenants for the commercial and office space in the building; in 1851,the newly-incorporated Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company rented office number 8 in the building as their original company office. The company would later move to their own building a few blocks up Main Street, but by the first decade of the 20th century they had moved back to the corner of Main and State. However, instead of renting a single suite as they had some 50 years earlier, they demolished Foot’s Block and replaced it with the 12-story tower that stands there today.

The building was completed in 1908, and at 125 feet it is the same height as the steeple of Old First Church. In response to the construction of this building. and because of fears that the city would be overtaken by modern skyscrapers, the Massachusetts legislature set 125 feet as the height limit for any building in Springfield, a law that stood until 1970. As a result, despite being over a century old it is still tied for 7th tallest building in the city. MassMutual didn’t stay here for too long, however. In 1927 with a continually-expanding company and little room in downtown, MassMutual moved to their present-day home a few miles up State Street in the Pine Point neighborhood. Menawhile, the historic office building here at the corner of State and Main is now owned by MGM Springfield, who plan to preserve the building for MGM’s offices once the casino is built adjacent to it.

Old Town Hall, Springfield Mass

July 8, 2016May 28, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Springfield’s old town hall building on State Street near Main Street, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The scene in 2015:

The building in the first photo once served as Springfield’s town hall before it was incorporated as a city. It was built in 1828, and Springfield became a city in 1852, at which point a more substantial building was needed for the municipal government. So, in 1855 Springfield City Hall opened across from Court Square, in approximately the same location as the present-day City Hall. Meanwhile, this building on State Street continued to be used for a variety of purposes. The first floor was home to several different businesses, including a meat market and wallpaper store, as seen in the first photo. By the 1880s, the second floor was still owned by the city, and the third floor by the Masons. It was demolished around 1937, and today the location where it once stood is now part of the MassMutual Center.

Market Street, Springfield Mass

July 21, 2015May 28, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on Market Street from East Court Street in Springfield, c.1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892)

Market Street in 2015:

Market Street once ran parallel to Main Street from State Street to Harrison Avenue, and these two photos show the northern section of the street toward Harrison Avenue. This was never a major thoroughfare in the city – in fact, in the 1892 photo it looks more like an alley running behind the buildings on Main Street. Today, the southern section of Market Street no longer exists at all; the section from State Street to East Court Street is now part of the MassMutual Center. North of here, the street still exists, but it is a pedestrian-only walkway.

Most of the buildings from the first photo no longer exist. On the right-hand side, F.B. Taylor once supplied builders with doors, windows, lumber, and paint; today this spot is occupied by the MassMutual Center. In the distance is the steeple for Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, which once stood on Bridge Street. Today, the congregation still exists at the large stone church on Sumner Avenue. The only building in the first photo that survives today is the Springfield Five Cents Savings Bank building, seen on the far left. The Main Street facade of this building has since been substantially altered, but from the rear it is still recognizable as being the same one.

Springfield Republican Building, Springfield Mass

July 18, 2018May 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Springfield Republican Building at the corner of Main Street and Harrison Avenue in Springfield, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892)

The scene in 2018:

The Republican in Springfield was established in 1824, and over the years it has been headquartered in a number of different buildings in downtown. The building in the first photo was completed in 1888, and was located directly across Harrison Avenue from the Union Block, part of which had once been occupied by the newspaper’s offices. At some point after the first photo was taken, the building was enlarged. Two stories were added probably around the first decade of the 20th century, as seen in the historic photo in this post. I don’t know how long the newspaper stayed here, but today both the building and the lot that it once occupied are gone. The western end of Harrison Avenue was changed to cross Main Street at present-day Boland Way, so the street now passes diagonally through the lot of the old Republican building.

Old Corner Bookstore, Springfield Mass

January 28, 2024May 5, 2015 by Derek Strahan

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

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.

Isaac Brewer House, Wilbraham Mass

May 4, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Isaac Brewer House on Main Street in Wilbraham in 1898. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The house in 2015:

The Isaac Brewer House is one of the oldest existing buildings in Wilbraham; it dates to about 1748, and was originally the home of Isaac Brewer, a prominent early settler of what is today the town of Wilbraham. Present-day Wilbraham was settled beginning in the 1730s, and at the time it was part of Springfield. Known as the Outward Commons, this area was on the extreme eastern edge of Springfield’s borders, which once stretched as far as Wilbraham to the east and Westfield to the west. Isaac Brewer was the son of Daniel Brewer, who served as the pastor of the church in Springfield from 1694 to 1733. Following Reverend Brewer’s death in 1733, a dispute arose in Springfield regarding his replacement, Robert Breck, whose views were considered unorthodox to the more conservative Calvinists in Springfield. This was perhaps a factor in Isaac Brewer’s decision to move to Wilbraham around the same time that Breck became the pastor, and in 1741 he was one of the eight original members of the newly-created Wilbraham church.

The house remained in the Brewer family for 150 years, until it was sold in 1898 to merchant Frank Gurney, the owner of Gurney’s Store just a short distance away (his home is almost visible on the far right of the 1904 photo in that post). The first photo must’ve been taken either right before or right after he moved in; perhaps his family is the one photographed in the front yard. Like the historic photo in this post, I suspect that this photo may have been taken by the Howes Brothers, photographers from Ashfield Massachusetts who traveled around New England during the late 1890s and early 1900s, often photographing people in front of their homes.

Sometime soon after Gurney moved in, he made some alterations that are apparent in the present-day scene, including the front porch, second story bay window, and the altered windows on the first floor. By the 1950s, the Gurneys were no longer living here, and the house was divided into a two-family residence. However, overall the building remains in good condition, and aside from Gurney’s alterations it is still recognizable as a historic colonial-era house.