Churches Archives - Page 37 of 46

Saint Paul’s Methodist Church, Ludlow Mass

May 26, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Saint Paul’s Methodist Church, at the corner of Hubbard and Sewall Streets in Ludlow, around 1905-1913. Image courtesy of the Hubbard Memorial Library.

The church in 2015:

Saint Paul’s Methodist Church was built here in 1905, and the first photo shows how it appeared not long after its construction. It was built on land donated by the Ludlow Manufacturing Associates, whose factory was just a few blocks down Sewall Street. In 1917, a parsonage was built to the right of the church, and can be seen in the 2015 view. Despite nearly 110 years in between the two photographs, the church is still easily recognizable. The exterior now has modern siding instead of shingles, so the building did lose some of its Victorian style, but otherwise the building is very well preserved today.

Amherst College Graduation, Amherst Mass

May 20, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Seniors marching in front of College Hall at Amherst College, around 1908. Historic image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

College Hall in 2015:

These two photos show College Hall, an administrative office building at Amherst College that is also seen in this post. It was built in 1829 as a church, and was later acquired by the school to use as an auditorium before being converted to offices in 1965. The first view shows the seniors, probably the class of 1908, marching into the auditorium for the commencement ceremony. I would imagine that this essentially the same as it would’ve looked 13 years earlier, when 22 year old Calvin Coolidge graduated from Amherst College. By the time the first photo was taken, Coolidge was living a couple towns away in Northampton and representing them in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Probably the only major difference in the exterior of the building between Coolidge’s graduation and the present day came in 1905, when the portico was restored; it had been removed in 1861 before the school acquired the building.

College Hall, Amherst Mass

May 20, 2015 by Derek Strahan

College Hall on the Amherst College campus, at the corner of Northampton Road and South Pleasant Street in Amherst, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

College Hall in 2015:

This building on the Amherst College campus is almost as old as the college itself, although it wasn’t originally built by the school. Its architecture gives away its original use; it was built in 1829 as the meeting house of the First Congregational Church in Amherst. However, the land itself was originally part of Amherst College – it was given to the church, who built the building, under the stipulation that the college be allowed to use it. It was used as a church until 1866, when the land was sold back to the college and became College Hall. It was used for commencements and other meetings, and saw some changes before the first photo was taken. The portico had been removed in 1861, but was restored in 1905 as a gift from the class of 1884. The biggest change, however, came in 1965, when the building was renovated into administrative offices.

First Church of Christ, Hartford Connecticut

May 19, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The First Church of Christ in Hartford, around 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The church in 2015:

Hartford’s First Church, also called Center Church today, is one of the oldest active church congregations in the country. It was established in 1633 with my 9th great grandfather, Thomas Hooker, as the first pastor of the church. Hooker was also the founder of the colony of Connecticut, and in 1639 the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were established in the original meeting house; this document was arguably the first written constitution in the world, and gives Connecticut its nickname as “The Constitution State.” The present-day building is the congregation’s fourth meeting house, and it was dedicated in 1807. It was built within the boundaries of the Ancient Burying Ground, which was established around 1640 and includes the graves of many prominent figures in the early history of Connecticut, including Thomas Hooker. Today, neither the church building nor the burying ground have changed much since the first photo was taken. Like many other churches of its era, it still has its ornate steeple and columned portico, both of which are common elements in Federal architecture. Similar designs can be seen in early 19th century church buildings across New England, including in New Haven, Springfield, and the very similar South Congregational Church just a few blocks down Main Street from here.

Old Church and Courthouse, Northampton, Mass

April 12, 2018May 4, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking up Main Street from Pleasant Street in Northampton, toward the old church and courthouse in 1864. Photo from Reminiscences of Old Northampton (1902).

The location in 2018:

The 1864 photo is one of the oldest existing photographs of downtown Northampton, and none of the buildings from that scene survive today, 151 years later. To the left in the 1864 photo is the old church, which was built in 1812. It was Northampton’s fourth meeting house, and it replaced the 1737 building that had been built during the pastorate of Jonathan Edwards. It was from here that the influential pastor and theologian helped to spark the Great Awakening revival that spread across the American colonies and in Europe, but by the turn of the century the town was in need of a new building. The 1812 church was designed by Northampton architect Isaac Damon, who just a few years later would design Old First Church in Springfield, 15 miles to the south. However, while Old First Church survives to this day, the Northampton church seen in the 1864 photo burned in 1876, and was replaced two years later by the current brownstone church.

On the far right of the 1864 photo is the old Hampshire County Courthouse. I don’t know when it was built, but it is virtually identical to the 1821 Hampden County Courthouse, seen on the far left of the 1882 photo in this post. Because of its similar appearance, the Hampshire County Courthouse was probably built around the same time, shortly after some major changes to the county’s borders. Originally, Hampshire County included all of Western Massachusetts, but it was steadily broken up into multiple counties, beginning in 1761 when Berkshire County was established to the west. Then in 1811, Franklin County was created in the northern part of the Connecticut River Valley with Greenfield as the county seat, and a year later Hampden County split off to the south, with Springfield as the county seat. I don’t know what happened to the old courthouse seen here, but it was gone by 1886, when the present-day Hampshire County Courthouse opened on roughly the same spot at the corner of Main and King Streets.

In between the two prominent buildings in the 1864 scene is a relatively small commercial block, the Whitney Building. The photograph was actually commissioned by George D. Eames, the owner of the building, and was probably intended to advertise the building’s prominent location in town. Part of the building housed the offices of the Hampshire Gazette, and the newspaper was published in the basement. This is evidently the reason for the large sign on the building that reads “Caloric Printing Establishment.” The Whitney Building was demolished in 1876, and a bank building was put in its place. Today, the 1916 Northampton Institute for Savings building occupies the site where the Whitney Building once stood.

Elm Street, Springfield Mass

July 21, 2015April 23, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking east on Elm Street in Springfield, around 1892. Photo from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

Elm Street in 2015:

Elm Street still appears on city maps, although today it isn’t much of a street. While it used to extend from Main Street to the Connecticut River, today it is a pedestrian walkway and parking lot for courthouse employees that dead-ends in front of the Hampden County Courthouse. This area has gone through several major changes, the first of which came soon after the first photo was taken. In the first decade of the 1900s, all of the buildings between Elm Street and Court Street were demolished in order to extend Court Square down to the river; only Old First Church was spared. Later on, Columbus Avenue was built across this area, and in the 1970s the Hampden County Hall of Justice was built, with part of the building’s footprint covering what used to be Elm Street.

Despite all of the changes, several important buildings have survived from the first photo. On the left, the steeple of Old First Church is still there, although the brick addition behind it was extensively modified in the 1940s. To the right, the old Hampden County Courthouse is still there, although it isn’t visible from this angle. Beyond it, the Court Square Theater was under construction in the first photo, and was added on to in 1900. It can still be seen in the distance, along with the adjacent Byers Block and Chicopee Bank Building, which existed in the first photo although they aren’t really visible. One prominent landmark, however, that has not survived is the massive elm tree on the right side of the street. It was located in front of the Elm Street Grammar School (barely visible on the far right), and is believed to be the tree referred to by Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. Referring to notable elm trees that he has seen, he writes that, “The queen of them all is that glorious tree near one of the churches in Springfield. Beautiful and stately she is beyond all praise.” When the tree was finally cut down, a cross-section of it was saved and is now on display at the Springfield Science Museum.