Looking north on Main Street from Springfield Street, probably around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.
Main Street in 2015:
This scene along Main Street in the center of Wilbraham hasn’t changed much in the past century or so. At least one of the buildings from the first photo is gone, and Main Street is now paved, but overall the center of Wilbraham retains much of its 19th and early 20th century character. The first photo shows several historic buildings that survive today. On the far left is the steeple of the Memorial Chapel, built in 1870 and now part of the Wilbraham & Monson Academy campus. In front of it is the 1793 Old Methodist Meeting House, and in the left-center of both photos is the 1836 Rev. John W. Hardy House. The house in the right-center of the first photo is no longer there, and the store on the far right looks like the one in the present-day scene, but there are some differences. Either it is a completely different building today, or it has been expanded, because it appears to be much close to the Hardy house than in the first view.