Another scene outside of the Dwight Manufacturing Company factory in Chicopee in September 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, National Child Labor Committee Collection.
The same spot in 2014:
These photos were taken from almost the same spot as the ones in this post, just turned slightly to the right. The 1911 one was taken by Lewis Wickes Hine as part of the National Child Labor Committee, and his caption reads:
“Stanley Sypeck, Jasimine St., W. Springfield. Works in the Dwight Mfg. Co., 6 months in spinning room. Location: Chicopee, Massachusetts.”
Based on census records, it is unclear who exactly this boy was, but the address gives some clues. “Jasimine Street” likely refers to what is listed as “Jasmin or Morgan St” in this map from the 1912 Atlas of Hampden County. The Jasmin name was evidently archaic, because today it is known only as Morgan Road. In the 1910 census, it is named Morgan Street, and there is a “Sypek” (note spelling) family living there. The census lists 15 members of the extended family, including not just one but two Stanleys. It gets even more complicated, though, because one Stanley is listed as being 22 and the other as being 5. Clearly, the boy in the photo taken just a year later is neither 23 nor 6, and although census records are certainly not infallible, it still leaves open the question of which Stanley this boy is.
The other possibility, of course, is that Stanley isn’t his real name; as Hine mentions in his caption to the photo in this post, the boys will often use fake names in the event of trouble. Either way, he likely lived in the house of 15 Sypeks on Morgan Road. The census indicates that they lived on Morgan Road, probably near the corner of Piper and Morgan, although the exact house number is not listed. Either way, it was probably a single-family home, which means working at the factory was probably quieter for the young Stanley than being at home.