Commercial Buildings Archives - Page 54 of 76

Hollister Block, Wilbraham Mass

May 4, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Hollister Block on Boston Road in North Wilbraham, probably around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The building in 2015:

This building at the corner of Boston Road and Chapel Street was built around 1895, and in the early 20th century it was used as a drugstore and post office. In the first scene, the left-hand storefront is home to James Egan’s drugstore, and the window displays prominent lettering indicating that Moxie was available there. like other early sodas, Moxie was originally marketed as a medication; in the late 1800s it was called Moxie Nerve Food, and an 1896 ad claims it to be “The most healthful thing you can drink,” and was helpful in “keeping the blood cool, the stomach in order, and the nervous system properly nourished. The same ad also warned the public to “Beware of worthless imitations”, so apparently it was the habit of some unscrupulous druggists to serve generic brand Moxie to their customers; certainly one hopes that only genuine Moxie was sold to Mr. Egan’s customers here.

Today’s scene shows some exterior alterations to the building, but certainly nothing too dramatic. The building’s two storefronts are still in use, and an antique store now occupies the space that was once the home of Egan’s drugstore. Moxie is no longer served in the building, but the company is still in business. It no longer claims to have any medicinal value, and its popularity is nowhere near what it was a century ago, but it is still sold in the New England area and is one of the oldest existing soft drink brands in the country.

Gurney’s Store, Wilbraham Mass (2)

April 30, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Another view of Gurney’s Store, at the corner of Main and Springfield Streets in Wilbraham, around 1904. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The scene in 2015:

This scene shows the general store at the corner of Springfield and Main Streets as it appeared when Frank A. Gurney ran the store. As mentioned in this post, the store was owned by several different people around the turn of the last century, with Gurney bring the one most commonly associated with the building. His delivery wagon can be seen in this post, and his primary business was selling goods to farmers in the area, although he probably also saw a fair amount of business from students at nearby Wesleyan Academy. Gurney was out of the building by 1913, and it was used as a post office and Masonic Lodge until it was demolished in 1957, and for many years afterward this was the site of the Louis & Clark drugstore.

Gurney’s Store, Wilbraham Mass (1)

May 1, 2015April 30, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Frank A. Gurney’s Store, at the corner of Main Street and Springfield Street in Wilbraham, probably around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The location in 2015:

I don’t know whether Frank Gurney used the building at the time that the first photo was taken, because it was used as a general store by several different men in the early 20th century. However, it is most commonly associated with Gurney, whose carriage can be seen directly across the street from this building in the first photo of this post (note the watering trough, which is seen both in that post and here). The tree next to the trough was apparently used as a sort of community bulletin board, which reveals the occupation that most Wilbraham residents were involved in – farming. The bottom handbill advertises for Berkshire Fertilizers, above it is one that exclaims “WANTED FARMS!!”, and then above that is another ad for a fertilizer company. As for the people in the first photo, I’m guessing that they were the store employees, but the man on the far right stands out. All of the other men are wearing a bow tie and vest or jacket, and he is wearing overalls and a work shirt. Perhaps the others were clerks, and he was the delivery man?

Like many small towns, the building had multiple uses; aside from being a general store, the post office was also located here, and the second floor was used as the Masonic Lodge. The post office and the Masons were here until the building was demolished in 1957, and today the site is occupied by a commercial building that for many years housed the Louis & Clark drugstore. The watering trough for horses is long gone, although its modern equivalent, a gas station, is directly across the street from here.

High Street, Holyoke Mass (2)

April 27, 2015April 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on High Street from Suffolk Street in Holyoke, around 1903-1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

High Street in 2015:

These photos show a scene similar to the ones in this post, just a half a block further south, at the corner of High and Suffolk Streets. This area is also part of the North High Street Historic District, and all of the buildings on the left-hand side date to between 1880 and 1920. The first photo was taken at a good time to show some of the changes that happened in the early 19th century. Had this photo been taken less than 10 years later, we would see almost no change today; all of the present-day buildings in the foreground were built by about 1912. Starting on the far left side and heading down High Street, the first five buildings in the present-day photo are:

An unnamed commercial block, which was built in 1910 and replaced two earlier buildings, including the ornate Naumkeag Clothiers building in the first photo.
Bishop Block, which was built around 1890 and has had a few alterations over the years, especially the facade on the second floor.
Taber Block, which was built around 1884 and is architecturally very similar to the Russell-Osborne Building further down the street
Childs Building, which was built around 1912
Steiger’s Building, which was built around 1900 and was home to one of Albert Steiger’s department stores

Overall, the changes in the two photos reflect the prosperity of Holyoke at the turn of the last century; its paper mills were bringing jobs and wealth to the city, and this was seen on High Street, where relatively new buildings from the 1880s and 1890s were being taken down and replaced by larger commercial buildings. However, just as new construction on this part of High Street seemed to stagnate by the mid 20th century, Holyoke’s economy also stagnated with the closing of the paper mills. Today, parts of Holyoke are filled with historic buildings, but sadly this is not necessarily because of careful attention to historic preservation, but rather from a lack of new economic development in the city.

High Street, Holyoke Mass (1)

April 27, 2015April 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on High Street between Suffolk and Dwight Streets, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

High Street in 2015:

Holyoke has a number of buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but these photos show the only Historic District located within the city. The two photos show a number of changes in the past 100 years, but even the most of the “new” buildings seen in the 2015 photo date to the 1920s or earlier. Several notable buildings from the first photo have survived, though. On the left-hand side, starting closest to the foreground, they are:

Mayberry Building (narrow red brick building) – Built in 1881, although it had a fourth story added at some point after the 1908 photo.
Russell-Osborne Building (the next red brick building) – Built in 1885, this building’s ornate facade contrasts with most of the other more reserved architectural styles, but it has lost some of its decoration over the years, including the gargoyle-like carvings that can be seen in the 1908 photo.
Ball Block (yellow brick, in center of the photos) – Built in 1898 and located at the corner of High and Dwight Streets, this was an office building but was later converted into a bank. However, most of the modifications were made to the interior, so from the outside it hasn’t changed much in appearance since the first photo was taken.
Caledonia Building (in the distance, flying an American flag) – Built in 1874, its Second Empire architectural style with a mansard roof is very different from most of the other buildings along this part of High Street, but its exterior hasn’t changed much since it was built.

Willimansett Y, Chicopee Mass

April 26, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The “Y” intersection of Chicopee Street and Meadow Street in the Chicopee village of Willimansett, around 1917. Image courtesy of the Chicopee Public Library, Russ H. Gilbert Photographic Collection.

The “Y” in 2015:

In the early 20th century, the city of Chicopee experienced a large population growth, much of which was made up of Polish and French Canadian immigrants. Each group settled in particular neighborhoods, and Willimansett became home for many French-Canadian immigrants, including my great-great-grandparents, who lived a block away from here in the 1920s. From here, workers could commute a short distance by trolley to either the Holyoke mills across the river, or the mills along the Chicopee River a few miles to the south.

This intersection of Chicopee and Meadow Streets became known as the “Y”, so-named because of the angle at which the streets merge. This is the primary commercial center of Willimansett, but in the early 1900s it was still fairly undeveloped. The commercial blocks on the right weren’t there yet, nor were the houses to the left. The only prominent building that appears in both photos is the Chapin School, which can be seen in the distance in the middle of the fork. It opened in 1898, and had several additions put on as Willimansett grew in population. Today it is vacant, but it is currently planned to be converted into apartments for veterans.

Probably the most interesting thing about the “Y”, however, is something that does not appear in either photo. In the 1930s, a grocery store opened here, called the Y Cash Market. They are no longer in Willimansett, but the name lives on – today the company is Big Y, one of the largest grocery store chains in New England.