Commercial Buildings

Homestead Building, Springfield Mass

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The Homestead Building, at 82-86 Worthington Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Photo courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust

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The building in 2014:

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According to the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, this building on Worthington Street was built in 1903, although its architectural style makes it look more like something built in the 1880s, like a scaled-down version of the Chicopee Bank Building.  The building was the home of Phelps Publishing Company, which produced the Springfield Homestead newspaper as well as several other weekly publications.  In 1932, the building was sold to Blue Line Transportation Company, as seen in the first photo.  From here, passengers could take buses to cities around New England and beyond; the Worthington Street side lists Hartford, New York, and Boston as destinations.  Most recently, the building was used as a nightclub, which closed in 2014 following a shooting outside the building.

There’s another building that appears in both photos, although it isn’t as obvious.  The tall, “L” shaped building that seems to loom over the Homestead Building was built in 190, and in the first photo it was home to the Springfield Photo Engraving Company.  The building is still there today, although in 1949 it was trimmed down to three floors and now blends in with the Homestead Building.

Main & Court Streets, Springfield, Mass

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Looking north on Main Street in Springfield, toward Court Street, around 1882. Photo from Springfield Illustrated (1882).

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Main Street in 2014:

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This scene is similar to the view in this post, except this one shows the view further down Main Street.  The building in the foreground is the home of the Springfield Five Cents Savings Bank, which is still there today, although its Main Street facade has been completely replaced.  However, the arches over the windows on the Court Street side clearly show that it is the same building.  Further down Main Street in the 1882 photo is the home office of the Springfield Republican, and beyond that is the Mass Mutual Building.

The commercial block furthest from the camera is the Union Block, which is seen in this post from the other side.  Two thirds of this building still exists today, although it is hard to see it in the shadows of the 2014 photo.  Finally, the steeple of the First Baptist Church, which can be seen more clearly in this post.  The church was built in 1847 and demolished in 1888, and today its former location is now Harrison Avenue where it intersects with Main Street.

Plymouth, Vermont

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The village of Plymouth, Vermont, in August, 1924. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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Plymouth in 2014:

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The first photo was taken when President Calvin Coolidge vacationed in his hometown of Plymouth, Vermont.  The first scene shows many visitors, most of whom were probably there hoping to catch a glimpse of Coolidge.  After all, this was part of his image as president; that he was a humble, down-to-earth New England farmer and a friend of the common man.  Certainly the setting did little to detract from this image; most of the “center” of Plymouth can be seen in this view, with the general store/post office in the foreground, the church visible behind it, and the Coolidge Homestead to the right.

All of these buildings are part of the Calvin Coolidge Homestead District, and each one has some significance to the president.  He lived in the house to the right from age four until he left for high school, he and his family attended the church across the street, and he was born in the back of the post office/general store.  This building was built in the 1850s, and Coolidge’s father owned it from the 1870s until 1917.  During his 1924 visit, Coolidge used the upper room in the store as his “Summer White House.”

Bellows Falls, Vermont

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The Square at Bellows Falls, Vermont, around 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2018:

The village of Bellows Falls is probably best known to baseball fans as the birthplace of Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk, but historically it has been a significant settlement along the Connecticut River.  As the name implies, it is located at a waterfall on the Connecticut River, where the river passes through a narrow gorge.

The waterfall benefitted the village in several ways; first, the narrow width of the river made it easy to bridge.  In fact, the first bridge across the Connecticut River was built here in 1785, which made this a major transportation center, originally for stagecoaches and later for trains; it became a major railroad hub in the 19th century.  The falls also attracted many industries to Bellows Falls, and in the 19th century many industries developed along the river, powered by a canal that took advantage of the river’s 52-foot drop in elevation.

This scene shows the center of the village, much of which has changed in the past 108 years.  It retains its small-town appearance, but most of the buildings in the first photo have since been destroyed in a succession of fires, the first of which occurred in 1912 and destroyed several of the buildings on the right-hand side.  The two buildings just beyond the gabled brick building on the right date to the 1800s, but only the shells of the buildings survived the fire.  Closer to the camera on the right is the Hotel Windham, which was built in 1933 to replace the previous building, which burned in 1932.  On the left, the old post office and library, with its distinctive tower, burned in 1925, and was replaced with the present building the following year.

The only two surviving buildings on the square that are visible in both photos are the 1875 Centennial Block on the far left-hand side, which was itself damaged by a fire in 1978, and the wood commercial block in the distant center of both photos, which dates to around 1890 and is probably the only building in the 1907 photo that never had a fire.

Turnverein Block, Springfield, Mass

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The Springfield Co-Operative Bank building at 81 State Street, Springfield, Mass, around 1938-1939. Photo courtesy of Springfield Preservation Trust.

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The building in 2014:

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This building at 81 State Street was built in 1888 as the home of the Turnverein Society, a German-American social club.  In the 1920s, the façade was renovated in line with contemporary styles, although the rest of the building reveals the earlier architectural design.  By the time the first photo was taken, it was Springfield Co-Operative Bank, and the building continued to be used as a bank until at least the 1980s.  Today, the building is within the footprint of the planned MGM Springfield casino, and will be demolished, along with the tall annex to 1200 Main Street, which is seen directly behind the Turnverein Block.

Main Street from Court Square, Springfield, Mass

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Several buildings along Main Street in Springfield, seen from across the street in Court Square, around 1865-1885. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

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The view from Court Square in 2014:

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These photos were taken from Court Square from about the spot that Parsons Tavern once stood, before it was moved to the location in this post.  The massive elm tree in the first photo once stood right next to the building, and George Washington likely would’ve seen the tree upon his arrival nearly 100 years earlier.  Today, the tree is gone, but the street that it was named after – Elm Street – is still there.

The elm tree isn’t the only thing missing in the 2014 photo – the entire area across Main Street was cleared in the 1970s to build the MassMutual Center, a sports arena and convention center where the Springfield Falcons minor league hockey team plays.  According to the 1899 map of downtown Springfield, there were over 70 buildings within the modern-day footprint of the MassMutual Center, along with two streets, Market Street and Sanford Street.  Sanford Street can be seen in the opening between the buildings behind the elm tree, and once ran from Main Street to Dwight Street.

There are several identifiable businesses in the first photo; the white building on the left-hand side was the home of the First National Bank of Springfield, and just to the right of it is the storefront of Frank G. Tobey.  Tobey’s ad in the 1875 city directory indicates that he was a “Dealer in Hats, Caps, and Gent’s Furnishing Goods. Silk Hats made to order.”  Across Sanford Street, none of the signs on the storefronts are visible, but the buildings on that side appear to date to the early 1800s, with a style similar to the Byers Block on Elm Street just across Main Street, which survives today.