Landscapes

SS Dorothy Bradford, Boston, Mass

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The steamer Dorothy Bradford leaving Boston, with the Custom House Tower in the background, in the late 1920s. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The scene in 2013:

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The SS Dorothy Bradford was built in 1889 for the Cape Cod Steamship Company, and brought passengers to and from Provincetown on Cape Cod.  The company shut down in 1937, and the Dorothy Bradford was sold for scrap.

The Boston Public Library estimates the date of this photo as 1930, but it had to have been earlier than that, because the steamer behind the Dorothy Bradford, the SS Mary Chilton, burned in a fire along with almost the entire rest of its company’s fleet in a fire in November 1929.

SS Nantasket and Custom House Tower, Boston

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Boston’s Custom House Tower as seen from the waterfront, with the steamer Nantasket in the foreground, probably in the late 1920s. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The scene in 2013:

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Boston’s skyline has changed substantially, but the Custom House Tower remains much the same as it appeared when it was completed in 1915.  It was the tallest building in Boston until the Prudential Tower was built in 1964, and to this day, remains the 17th tallest in the city.  Although no longer used as a custom house, it is now a Marriott hotel.

The Boston Public Library dates this photo to around 1934, but it had to have been earlier than that, because the Nantasket burned in a fire in November, 1929, along with almost the entire rest of the company’s fleet.

North End, Boston

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The North End of Boston from the Charlestown Navy Yard, in 1870, with the USS Kearsarge in the foreground. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

The scene in 2021:

Boston’s skyline has obviously changed significantly over the past 150 years, but at least one constant remains in both photos: Old North Church, which is barely visible behind some masts, just to the left of the Kearsarge, in the 1870 photo.  The Kearsarge was a famous ship by this point – during the Civil War, she defeated the infamous Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama.  After she was decommissioned, a US battleship was named after her; she is the only non-state to have a US Navy battleship named after her.

Manhattan Skyline from Brooklyn

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The view from Brooklyn looking toward Manhattan, around 1900. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The view, at night, in 2013:

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The skyline of Lower Manhattan has changed substantially in the past century, as seen in the previous photos I have posted on here. I don’t have any daytime photos of this view today, but I felt that this night photo sufficiently captured the changes that have happened. As far as I can tell, none of the buildings in the first photo are visible in the 2013 one. Some, including the Park Row Building on the far right of the first photo, still exist, but are hidden behind the modern skyline.

Manhattan Waterfront from Brooklyn Bridge

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The view of Lower Manhattan, looking south from the Brooklyn Bridge, around 1901. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The view from the Brooklyn Bridge in 2013:

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Manhattan’s waterfront is quite different today from 100 years ago. Once a major transportation hub, today the FDR Drive along the waterfront is a major transportation corridor, instead of the East River that it runs parallel to. In the foreground of the first photo are the piers for the New Haven Line, a steamship company that operated ferries between Manhattan and New Haven, with railroad connections to points north. The closest steamship is the SS Robert Peck, which was built in 1892 as the flagship of the line. In 1943, it was transferred to the Navy, and served as floating barracks for part of World War II.

Lower Manhattan (4)

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The view of Lower Manhattan from New York Harbor, between 1900 and 1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The view in 2012:

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The first photo shows the Manhattan skyline in the background, with a group of barges passing through to the East River from Albany. Today, the barges are long gone, and the skyline has changed substantially, with low-rise buildings along the waterfront being replaced by modern skyscrapers. Battery Park is still there, though, visible along the left-hand side of the waterfront in both photos. As this photo was taken a few years ago, the new World Trade Center buildings are seen still under construction.