Buildings Archives - Page 310 of 323

Dwight Manufacturing Company, Chicopee Mass (4)

January 26, 2016March 16, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Joseph Polchlopek, employee at Dwight Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, Mass, in November 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, National Child Labor Committee Collection.

The scene in 2014:

Lewis Hine provides the following information about this young man, working at the Dwight Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, Mass:

Joseph Polchlopek (alone), 37 W. Front St. Says, “Been working here two years and a half.” (See #2638). Location: Chicopee, Massachusetts.

Interestingly, I was able to use Ancestry.com to find out more about Joseph Polchlopek; he was born in 1896 to Polish immigrants (if the last name didn’t give it away), making him 15 when the photo was taken, which would mean that he started working there when he was 12. According to the 1940 census, the highest grade that he completed was 8th grade, which is impressive if he had been working since he was 12. In 1939, he worked as a laborer, making $1,100 per year. He died in New Bedford in 1976, shortly before his 80th birthday.

Dwight Manufacturing Company, Chicopee Mass (3)

January 26, 2016March 16, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Employees of the Dwight Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, Mass, in November 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, National Child Labor Committee Collection.

In 2014:

Another photo from Lewis Hine’s documentation of child labor issues in the early 1900s, this one shows a group of young workers at Dwight Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, Mass. Hine writes this in his caption:

Group of workers in Dwight Mfg. Co. Stanley Twarog (one of the smallest boys), 81 Park St. Works in spinning room. Tony Sccha [i.e., Soccha], (Shortest boy in front, overalls. Very young. 65 Exchange St. A bobbin Boy in Room 7; has been there a year. Location: Chicopee, Massachusetts.

Today, all of the boys are (presumably) long-dead, but I’m sure many of their ancestors still live in Chicopee and the surrounding towns, probably unaware of their grandfather or great-grandfather’s role in changing child labor laws in the United States. The buildings do remain, although the picket fence has been replaced by a far less picturesque chain link fence topped with barbed wire, and the railroad tracks in the foreground aren’t covered in the snow – they are long gone as well.

Dwight Manufacturing Company, Chicopee Mass (2)

January 26, 2016March 16, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Employees of the Dwight Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, Mass, in November 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, National Child Labor Committee Collection.

In 2014:

Taken in the same area as this photo, this photo shows a group of workers at Dwight Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, in November, 1911. Photographing for the National Child Labor Committee, Lewis Hines writes this about the boy in the foreground:

A young boy, unable to speak a word of English. Working here. A boy said his name is John Krakowski. Location: Chicopee, Massachusetts.

Dwight Manufacturing Company, Chicopee Mass (1)

January 26, 2016March 16, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Employees of the Dwight Manufacturing Company in Chicopee, Mass, in November 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, National Child Labor Committee Collection.

The same scene in 2014:

This photo was one of many taken in Chicopee by noted photographer Lewis Hine, during his travels across the United States documenting child labor issues. Photographing for the National Child Labor Committee, his photographs are now available through the Library of Congress, so I decided to try to re-create some of his Chicopee photos.

This one is probably my favorite, because the scene can be re-created so perfectly; the brick walls, the “1894” on the granite pillar, and even the wrought iron gates are still there. At the time that the photographs were taken, the factory belonged to the Dwight Manufacturing Company; it was part of a sprawling complex of factories and boarding houses along the Chicopee River, and many of the buildings still exist today, including the main entrance, which is surprisingly unchanged over 100 years later.

Hine identified the young man on the left as Stanislaus Fabara, writing this as the caption of the photo:

Watchman Stanislaus Fabara, 59 Exchange St. Works in cloth room. The day before he gave me his name as Frank Fabara and today said it was wrong. “We give wrong names when we think trouble is coming.” Two other boys here acknowledge giving me wrong names also. Location: Chicopee, Massachusetts.

Times Square

January 26, 2016February 13, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Times Square, as it appeared around 1905. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same view in 2014:

The tall building toward the right-hand side of the 1905 photo is actually still there – it’s the Times Square Building, and was the headquarters of the New York Times in the early 20th century, hence the name “Times Square.” The New York Times hasn’t used the building in a century, but it’s still there, covered in billboards, and with the famous New Years ball at the top. Because of the building’s narrow dimensions, it’s actually more profitable to cover it in billboards and electronic signboards instead of renting it out. Otherwise, all of the other buildings in the first picture are either gone or are completely hiding behind billboards and signs. I think I like the 1905 photo better.

Corner of Main & State Streets, Springfield

January 24, 2016January 13, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The northeast corner of Main and State in Springfield, sometime in the 19th century. Photo from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The same location, around 1892. Photo from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The corner in 2014:

Many of these Springfield street scenes follow a predictable pattern over the past 150 years or so – first, a pre-Civil War Federal style commercial block, followed by a larger, more ornate building in the latter part of the 19th century, and finally some sort of modern, 20th century structure. In this case, we clearly see all three generations of commercial development at the corner of Main and State, culminating with the MassMutual Center of the 1970s. Of particular interest is the building in the second photo – above the entrance is a sign that reads “G. & C. Merriam & Co Publishers,” the publishers of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Today, the company is still headquartered in Springfield, just up the hill on Federal Street. See this post and this post for a few other angles of the neighborhood that is now the MassMutual Center.