Houses

28-30 Congress Street, Springfield, Massachusetts

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The building at 28-30 Congress Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The same scene in 2024:

The early history of this building is difficult to trace, but it appears to have been built sometime around the 1850s. This date coincides with the large-scale development of this part of Springfield, and it is also consistent with some of the architectural features on the house, particularly the rounded Italianate-style windows in the front gable. It was owned by the Dunn family in the late 19th century, who evidently used it as a rental property. The 1899 city atlas shows it, along with the house next door at 24 Congress Street, as belonging to Margaret J. Dunn.

Margaret Dunn, a 65-year-old Irish immigrant, was living in the house at 24 Congress Street during the 1900 census, and she rented the house in the top photo to three different families, most of whom were also Irish. These included Ellen Fogarty, a 38-year-old widow from Ireland who lived at 28 Congress Street with her four children, who ranged in age from 5 to 17, and also her 22-year-old niece. Also living at 28 Congress Street was Martin Dillon, a single 35-year-old Irish immigrant who lived here with his sister Margaret, brother John, and two nephews and a niece. The third family in this building, in the unit at 30 Congress Street, was Adolphus Mason, a 50-year-old French-Canadian immigrant who lived here with his wife Mary, who was the daughter of Irish immigrants. They had one surviving child, 19-year-old Catherine, who lived here with them.

By the 1920 census, the house in the top photo was still owned by the Dunn family, and it was still rented primarily to other Irish families. There were four families living here at the time, with Napoleon and Mary Bluteau and Mary Morgan at 28 Congress, and Fred and Ellen Gaylord and Thomas and Anna Walsh at 30 Congress. A decade later, in the 1930 census, Thomas and Anna Walsh were still living here along with their son James, while Mary Morgan and her son John were still living in the unit at 28 Congress. The two families paid $14 and $13 per month in rent, respectively.

By the time the top photo was taken in the late 1930s, the house was evidently vacant. It was listed as vacant in the 1939 city directory, and the 1940 census likewise does not show any residents here. The building seems to have been used only sporadically for housing during the 1940s and 1950s, and it was demolished by the early 1960s, when this entire part of Springfield was redeveloped as part of a large-scale urban renewal project. Today, the site of the house is part of the parking lot for Northgate Plaza, which is located at the corner of Main and Congress Streets.

Albert Ward House, Pelham, Massachusetts

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The house at the corner of Packardville Road and Juckett Road in Pelham, on November 7, 1928. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission, Quabbin Reservoir, Photographs of Real Estate Takings.

The scene in 2025:

This house was located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Packardville Road and Juckett Road, in the now defunct Pelham village of Packardville. It was owned briefly by Albert P. Ward, who acquired it as a gift from Henry Stevens in February of 1929. It was a small parcel that was broken off of a much larger property that Stevens owned. Ward’s newly created lot included only this house and an 8ft buffer around the home, for a lot size that totaled only 0.05 acres.

Before this home was built, a wagon shop for wagonmakers Packard & Thurston stood here in the early 1840s until they moved their operations to Belchertown in the late 1840s. Around 1860, this 1.5 story home was built by James Hanks, who owned and operated a store out of it from 1860 until 1873. Hanks would then go on to sell the home and the original, larger lot that it stood on to Henry Stevens in 1896.

Although the older photo labels this as the Albert P Ward House, he almost certainly never lived in it. Ward’s actual residence in 1929 was likely one of his properties in nearby Belchertown. The first photo was taken on November 7, 1928, three months before Ward was even gifted the property. Three months after Ward was given the home, the Massachusetts Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission would go on to purchase it from him in May of 1929 when building the Quabbin Reservoir. It is unclear why Ward was given this derelict looking home right before it would be sold again, or if he had a personal connection to it that predated his acquisition of it. The Water Supply Commission would demolish the home sometime in the early 1930s, because of its location inside the Quabbin Reservoir watershed.

Aside from a cellar hole where the home once stood, the site today has not changed much. The power lines, dirt roads, and small stream from the 1928 photo are still there. What were once small farms behind the home have long since grown in with trees and brush, and the road passing in front of the house no longer leads to a neighboring church.

Laundry Wagon, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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A horse-drawn wagon for Scott’s Laundry, seen on Emerson Road near the corner of Longmeadow Street in Longmeadow, Massachusetts in 1914. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The same scene in 2023:

These two photos were taken from near the same spot as the ones in the previous post, but just a little farther to the east. But, unlike the older image in that post, the main subject of the 1914 photo here is not the house, but rather the people and the wagon in the foreground. The wagon bears the name of L. Dorenbaum, who was an agent for Scott’s Laundry, and the image shows a man, presumably Dorenbaum, standing next to the horse, with a young woman seated in the carriage.

Louis Dorenbaum was born in Russia in 1878. He was Jewish, and he came to America as a child in 1887, likely to escape the antisemitic pogroms that were happening in Russia at the time. He lived in Springfield’s Forest Park neighborhood, which had a large Jewish population at the turn of the 20th century, and by the time the top photo was taken he was about 36 years old and was living at 810 Belmont Avenue in Springfield, along with his wife Agnes and their children Myron, Pauline, and Blanche. It seems unclear if the person in the carriage was a relative, but she seems too young to have been Agnes (who was 31 at the time), but too old to have been either of his daughters (who were 8 and 6).

The photo shows Dorenbaum’s laundry wagon in Longmeadow, on Emerson Road (or Depot Road, as it was known at the time) near the corner of Longmeadow Street. The house in the background is the Josiah Cooley house, which was built around 1760 and is described in more detail in an earlier post. The photographer, Paesiello Emerson, lived in this house with his half siblings Annie and Henry Emerson, and the house was often a subject of his photos. This photo is somewhat unusual for him, though, because he typically did not photograph people, instead preferring buildings, trees, and landscapes. It’s hard to say why Emerson chose to take this photo. It is possible that he knew Dorenbaum, but it also seems possible that he may have wanted to capture this image of a more of transportation that, by 1914, was rapidly vanishing in favor of motor vehicles.

Louis Dorenbaum lived in Springfield until the early 1940s. The 1940 census shows him at a house on Blodgett Street, and his occupation was listed as delivery driver for a laundry, although he was probably no longer using horse-drawn wagons by that point. He later moved to Milton, where his son Myron was working as a dentist. Louis died there in 1947, at the age of  70.

Today, the house that Dorenbaum posed in front of in the top photo is still standing. It has seen some changes over the years, including the removal of the so-called “coffin door” that is partially visible on the south side of the house behind the horse’s head in the top photo. Overall, though, it has remained well preserved in its historic appearance, and it is one of the oldest surviving homes in Longmeadow.

Josiah Cooley House, Longmeadow, Massachusetts (5)

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The house at the corner of Longmeadow and Emerson Streets in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, on September 12, 1917. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The house in 2023:

This house has been featured in previous posts, and there are many early 20th century images of it thanks to Paesiello Emerson, an amateur photographer who lived here during that period. As explained in more detail in an earlier post, the house is believed to have been built around 1760 as the home of Josiah and Experience Cooley. An earlier house, belonging to Josiah’s father Eliakim, had stood here on this same spot earlier in the 18th century, and it is possible that the current house may have been built in part on the foundation of Eliakim’s house.

These two photos show the view of the back of the house from the southwest, on what is now Emerson Road. From this angle, the house would have looked very different when it was initially constructed. It was built as a saltbox, with a second floor on the front part of the house and a long sloping roof here on the back of the house. However, when Josiah and Experience’s granddaughter Lucy Colton inherited the house in the late 1820s, she modernized and expanded the house.

Some of this work included raising the roof to create a full second story, along with additions on the north and west sides of the house. The two-story northern addition, which is visible in the distance on the far side of the house, included living space for Lucy’s son Luther Woolworth Colton and his newlywed wife Abigail. The western addition, shown on the left side of these photos, was one story in height, and it appears to have been used for storage and workshop space, rather than as living space

Aside from these structural changes, Lucy also made some interior and exterior design changes, in keeping with early 19th century trends. On the exterior, this included removing the original 12-over-12 windows from the front of the house and replacing them with new 6-over-6 windows. However, rather than discarding the old windows, they were installed here on the back part of the house and in the back addition, likely because they would not be as visible from the street.

The house would remain in the Cooley-Colton family for several more decades, but in 1869 Lucy’s son Josiah Cooley Colton sold the house and 20 acres of land to Bradford W. Palmer for $4,500. The Palmer family, however, would only stay here for a few years before selling it to William G. Emerson, a carpenter who was originally from eastern Massachusetts. His family included his wife Lovina and their children William, Annie, and Henry. The elder William died in 1887, Lovina died in 1897, and at some point the younger William moved into a house of his own in Longmeadow, but Annie and Henry would live here for their entire lives.

Neither Annie nor Henry ever married, but in 1907 they were joined here by their older half brother Paesiello Emerson. He was a widower in his mid-70s, and he had worked for much of his life as a boot maker. However, when he was in his 70s he took up photography as a hobby. He tended to prefer photographing landscapes and old buildings, and he captured several thousand images, including many here in Longmeadow. He continued his photography into his 90s, creating a valuable photographic archive of the town’s early 20th century development.

Paesiello Emerson died here in the house in 1927 at the age of 95. At some point in the 1920s, William Emerson also returned to live here, and he died in the house in 1930 at the age of 81. The two younger siblings, Annie and Henry, remained here until their deaths in 1941 and 1943, at the age of 81 and 77 respectively. Henry was a farmer who grew raspberries and asparagus here, along with raising poultry. Annie was a teacher, but she was also the town historian. She conducted extensive research on the historic homes in Longmeadow, including her own, and much of the information about this house is based on her notes.

The house was sold by the Emerson heirs after Henry’s death in 1943, and subsequent owners did some restoration work as well as modernization of the house. Here on the back part of the house, this included adding an enclosed porch to the back of the house and adding an open porch to the back addition. The garage was also extended outward by a few feet to accommodate cars, and a second garage door was added. Other changes, which are hard to notice from this particular angle, included removing the “coffin door” from the south side of the house, and adding another second-story window to the back of the house. The latter was evidently done in the late 1940s, when two new bathrooms were installed in the back part of the second floor.

Overall, though, the appearance of the house is not drastically different from its appearance in 1917 when Paesiello Emerson took the top photo. Aside from the porches and the small addition to the garage, the overall form of the house has not changed. It retains its chimneys, including the large central chimney, and most of the windows appear to either be original or, in the case of the 6-over-6 windows, date to the late 1820s renovation. Many of the 12-over-12 windows can still be found in the back part of the house, and are likely the same ones that had once been installed on the front part of the house in the mid-1700s.

Wells-Thorn House, Deerfield, Massachusetts

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The Wells-Thorn House at the corner of Old Main Street and Memorial Street in Deerfield, in November 1959. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey Collection.

The house in 2023:

This house was built around 1747 as the home of Ebenezer Wells (1691-1758) and his wife Abigail Barnard (1691-1772). They had no children, but their household here included at least two enslaved people: Lucy Terry (c.1733-1821) and Caesar (baptized 1734). Lucy is best remembered today for being the author of the poem “Bars Fight,” earliest known work of African American literature. The poem memorializes those who were killed during a 1746 Native American raid on a group of families that were working in the meadows, or “bars,” near the village. It seems unclear when the poem was first put down on paper, but it remained an oral tradition for more than a century before it was published by Josiah Gilbert Holland in his 1855 book History of Western Massachusetts. According to Holland, the poem reads:

August ’twas the twenty-fifth,
Seventeen hundred forty-six;
The Indians did in ambush lay,
Some very valient men to slay,
The names of whom I’ll not leave out.
Samuel Allen like a hero fout,
And though he was so brave and bold,
His face no more shall we behold.
Eleazer Hawks was killed outright,
Before he had time to fight,—
Before he did the Indians see,
Was shot and killed immediately.
Oliver Amsden he was slain,
Which caused his friends much grief and pain.
Simeon Amsden they found dead,
Not many rods distant from his head.
Adonijah Gillett we do hear
Did lose his life which was so dear.
John Sadler fled across the water,
And thus escaped the dreadful slaughter.
Eunice Allen see the Indians coming,
And hopes to save herself by running,
And had not her petticoats stopped her,
The awful creatures had not catched her,
Nor tommy hawked her on her head,
And left her on the ground for dead.
Young Samuel Allen, Oh lack-a-day!
Was taken and carried to Canada.

Because the raid happened only a year or so before this house was built, it is possible that Lucy was living in the house when she composed the poem. But either way, she appears to have lived here until at least 1756, when she married Abijah Prince, a free Black man who was from Curaçao. An article written by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association suggests that the wedding may have occurred here in this house, as was customary for the time. Lucy appears to have gained her freedom around this time, and she and Abijah lived on the eastern part of the Wells property early in their marriage. By 1764, they had moved to Guilford, Vermont, where they owned land. Abijah died in 1794, and Lucy eventually moved to Sunderland, Vermont, where she died in 1821.

In the meantime, Ebenezer and Abigail Wells lived here until Ebenezer’s death in 1758. He left the house to his nephew Ebenezer Wells (1730-1783), and Abigail subsequently moved to Northampton. The younger Ebenezer lived here for the rest of his life, as did his wife Mercy Bardwell (1737-1801). Their son David then inherited the property, but sold it to lawyer Hezekiah W. Strong (1768-1848).

Strong repainted the house to a bright robins egg blue color, evidently in the hopes of drawing attention to his law practice. However, he only remained in town for a few years, and he sold it in 1804 to John Dwight. The house was later owned by the Ware family for most of the 19th century, and then in 1905 it was sold to Edwin (1874-1920) and Luanna (1874-1965) Thorn. Edwin was a physician, but both he and Luanna were involved in the Deerfield Arts & Crafts movement. They produced colonial-inspired household goods, including furniture and textiles, and they sold them out of a shop here in their home.

Edwin Thorn died in 1920, but Luanna outlived him by many decades. She was still living in the house when the top photo was taken in 1959, as part of the documentation of the house by the Historic American Buildings Survey. She eventually sold the property to Historic Deerfield in 1962, and the house has since been restored and opened to the public as a museum. On the interior, each room is decorated to match a different time period, beginning in the early 18th century and going through the mid 19th century. On the exterior, the house has been painted the same shade of blue that Hezekiah Strong had used in the early 19th century, as shown in the 2023 photo.

John Nims House, Deerfield, Massachusetts

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The house at 58 Old Main Street in Deerfield, on July 24, 1930. Image courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leon Abdalian Collection.

The house in 2023:

These two photos show the Nims House, which is one of the many historic homes that line Old Main Street in Deerfield. The exact date of construction is unclear, but it stands on the site of an earlier home that was owned by Godfrey Nims in the late 17th century. The earlier house was burned during the February 29, 1704 raid on Deerfield, and three of his children died in the fire. Most of his surviving family members were taken captive and marched to Canada, and his wife Mehitable died several days into the march. Godfrey himself was not taken captive, but he died just a year later, in 1705.

The current house is traditionally said to have been built around 1710 by Godfrey’s son John Nims, who had been among the captives. He survived the ordeal and returned to Deerfield, where he married his wife Elizabeth Hull in 1707. However, recent dendrochronological analysis by William Flynt of Historic Deerfield has called this date into question. The timbers in the house reflected a wide range of ages, but indicated that the house could have been built no earlier than the early 1720s, and probably had significant alterations done in the 1740s. The gambrel roof is not original to the house, but rather was added sometime around the early 1790s.

Regardless of exactly when it was constructed, the house would remain in the Nims family for many generations. During the early 19th century it was owned by Seth Nims, who operated a post office here in the house from around 1816 until his death in 1831. The house was ultimately sold out of the family in 1894.

The top photo was taken in 1930, showing both the Nims house and also the neighboring Barnard Tavern in the distance on the left. A few years later, in 1936, the house was purchased by Nims descendants who, in turn, donated it to Deerfield Academy in 1938. The house is still owned by the school, and it serves as a faculty residence. As shown in the bottom photo, the house has seen only minimal changes since the top photo was taken nearly a century ago.