Monson Massachusetts

Post Office, Monson, Mass

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The post office at the corner of Main and State Streets in Monson, around 1893. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The scene in 2015:

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The building in the first photo was built in 1855 for the recently-established Monson National Bank.  In 1872, Monson Savings Bank was also created, and the two companies shared the same counter, tellers, and vault within this small building until 1893, when a larger one was completed just a short walk down Main Street from here.  That same year, the nearby Central Block, which housed the post office, was destroyed in a fire, so the post office was moved to the recently-vacated bank building.  It later moved back to the Central Block location when a new building was completed on the site.

I don’t know exactly when it was demolished, but it would have been sometime before 1925, when the original Monson High School was built here.  The school building was converted into the town offices in the early 1990s, but it sustained heavy damage in the une 1, 2011 tornado, and it was demolished in 2013.  A new town office building, seen to the right in the 015 photo, was completed earlier in the year.

Methodist Church, Monson, Mass (2)

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Another view of the Methodist Church on Main Street in Monson, around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The church in 2015:

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As explained in the previous post, this church at the corner of Main and Cushman Streets was built in 1850, and it is the oldest of Monson’s four church buildings.  The only major change in the church’s appearance between the two photos is the steeple.  The top of the steeple above the belfry was removed in 1952 because of damage caused by the 1938 hurricane, and it was replaced in 2010.  Aside from that, though, the rest of the historic church is essentially unchanged, and it is an excellent example of mid 19th century New England church architecture.

Methodist Church, Monson, Mass (1)

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The Methodist Church on Main Street in Monson, probably taken around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The church in 2015:

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The Methodist church in Monson was first established in the 1820s, and in 1827 its first permanent church building was built about a mile south of here, at the corner of Main and Maple Streets.  However, the congregation outgrew that building, and in 1850 they moved to this much larger, more centrally-located church in downtown Monson.  As seen in the two photos, it is still standing today, and it is the oldest active church building in town.

Architecturally, the church strongly resembles the traditional New England churches of the early 1800s, but there are also some elements of Gothic Revival architecture, such as the arched windows and the quatrefoil window on the tower.  Since its completion, there have not been many major changes to its appearance.  Aside from an expansion around 1860, the only major change has been the steeple.  The 1938 hurricane weakened its supports, so in 1952 the spire was removed, and was not replaced until 2010.  Just a year later, a tornado caused severe damage to downtown Monson, and destroyed the steeples of two nearby churches, but this church survived largely unscathed.

Monson Savings Bank, Monson, Mass

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Monson Savings Bank on Main Street, around 1893-1910. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The building in 2015:

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Monson’s first bank was Monson National Bank, which opened in 1854. It was a commercial bank, so it primarily served the business community in town, rather than on individual checking and savings accounts. So, in 1872, Monson Savings Bank was established, which enabled middle class workers in town to open savings accounts.  The two banks were officially separate, but they shared the same building, and the same vault, counter, tellers.

This arrangement continued until 1893, when this building was completed.  Although still located in the same building, they were separated, with Monson National on the left and Monson Savings on the right.  Monson National merged with the Springfield Safe Deposit and Trust Company, which in turn merged with Shawmut Bank.  Shawmut continued to operate a branch in this building until the 1960s, when Monson Savings Bank acquired the entire building.

Over 120 years after this building was completed, Monson Savings Bank is still here, although the building itself has undergone dramatic changes.  The two upper floors were removed at some point, and in the 1960s the front facade was completely rebuilt.  Another renovation in 1985 added office space in the back and a drive-up teller window to the left, so today the only surviving parts of the original exterior are the walls on the left and right.

Wales Road, Monson Mass

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Looking up Wales Road from Main Street in Monson, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

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Wales Road in 2015:

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Most of the houses at the western end of Wales Road date to the second half of the 19th century, including the two on the left, which were built around 1850.  At the time that the first photo was taken, Monson was becoming a significant factory town, and many of those factories were situated in the southern part of the town center, within easy walking distance of the houses seen here.  Not long after the first photo was taken, a trolley line was built along Main Street in Monson, and it ended here at Wales Road.  Today, the trolleys are long gone, and the house on the right has since been replaced, but otherwise most of the houses in this area from the 1892 scene are still there.

Columbia Straw Works, Monson Mass

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The Columbia Straw Works factory on Main Street in South Monson, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

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Main Street in 2015:

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In the second half of the 19th century, Monson developed into a significant industrial town, with the Chicopee Brook and its tributaries providing power to a number of different factories, including this facility on the left, which was built in the early 1880s by Alvin A. Gage and Rice Munn Reynolds to manufacture straw hats, which were sold at their store on Broadway in New York City.  Reynolds was the son of Monson industrialist Joseph L. Reynolds, and he had previously represented Monson in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1876 and 1877.  He also served as a town selectman and was one of the founders and trustees of Monson Savings Bank, which still exists today.  However, he committed suicide under rather mysterious circumstances in 1898, and his share of the business went to his brother Theodore, whose untimely death came less than two years later at the age of 57, following what the Boston Post described as “a supposedly slight illness.”  Theodore owned three mills in Monson, including this one, and was also the third largest stockholder in the Boston & Albany Railroad.  At his death, according to the Boston Post, he was worth close to $10 million, which would be around $280 million in 2015 dollars.

Following the death of Theodore Reynolds, the property was acquired by F.W.A. Langewald, who operated it as the Crescent Worsted Mill.  However, it burned within a few years.  The 1912 Hampden County atlas shows a couple small buildings on the site, but it appears that the fire marked the end of this location as a major industrial site.  Today, the only remnants of the factory itself are the stone foundations in the woods beyond the house on the right.  The small stream that once powered the factory still passes through the site, and across the street in the distance is the tenement house where many of the workers once lived.  It is the only recognizable building from both photos, and today it is an apartment building.