Springfield Massachusetts

The house at 56 Dartmouth Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was built in 1888 for Eli B. Clark, a retired pastor who was about 80 when he moved into the house. An 1839 graduate of Yale Theological Seminary, he had a long career as the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Chicopee, serving from 1839 to 1875. During this time, he was involved in the Underground Railroad, assisting runaway slaves in their journey north through the Connecticut River Valley. His wife Cornelia died in 1880, and he continued living in Chicopee for another eight years, until he moved to Springfield. However, he died in 1889, only a year after this house was completed.

The Clark family owned this house for more than a decade, and by the 1900 census they were renting it to lawyer Hervey K. Hawes, who had previously lived in the house directly across the street from here. By 1910, though, the property had been sold to Joseph and Susan McVeigh, who lived here with their four children. Joseph was born in Ireland to Scottish parents, and Susan was originally from Iowa, but the couple ended up here in Springfield, where Joseph worked as a wholesale grain merchant.

By the time the first photo was taken, their children had moved out, but Joseph and Susan would continue to live here for many years. Joseph died in 1959, but Susan remained here until her death in 1965, at the age of 91. Since then, the exterior of the house has remained well-preserved, and it is now part of the McKnight Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The house at 60 Dartmouth Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was built in 1893 for Walter T. Bugbee, a tailor who had previously lived a few houses away at 24 Dartmouth Street. It seems unclear why, after living there for just six years, he chose to move to a very similar house on the same block, but he did not live in this one for very long, either. By 1900, he had moved to Garfield Street in Forest Park, and this house was owned by scientist Mary A. Booth, who lived here alone except for a servant.

Originally from Longmeadow, Mary Booth became interested in science thanks to her father, Samuel C. Booth, who had accumulated an extensive collection of minerals and Native American artifacts that, after his death in 1895, she donated to the Springfield City Library. In particular, she specialized in microscopy and micrography, becoming a leading authority on these topics, as well as one of the few female scientists in 19th century America. She was a member of a number of scientific societies, including the Royal Microscopical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and she traveled extensively to give lectures while also working as the editor of the magazine Practical Microscopy.

Booth did much of her work here at her home, where she prepared her microscopic slides, took photographs through her microscope, and stored her vast collections. One contemporary source described her home as being “filled with many relics of the past and products of her skill,” while another declared that “she has probably the largest private collection of parasites in this country.” During the outbreak of bubonic plague in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century, she put her knowledge and skills to use in assisting public health officials, by providing them with photographs of plague-infected fleas.

Booth lived here until her death in 1922 at the age of 79, and the house subsequently became the home of Roe S. Clark, his wife Sarah, and their two children. Clark was a businessman who served as treasurer and later president of the Package Machine Company, and he lived here for about a decade before moving in 1932. The house was sold to another local business executive, Harley Morrill. Many years earlier, he had started his career as a railroad engineer, before becoming superintendent at the Ludlow Manufacturing Company. By the time he moved into this house, he was the president of the Springfield Cooperative Bank, which was the precursor of the present-day United Bank.

At some point, the exterior of the house was covered in aluminum siding. It is hard to tell from the black and white image, but it appears to have already been installed when the first photo was taken. The house ended up being used as a rooming house, but the house was ultimately restored on the interior and exterior, including replacing the siding with wooden clapboards. Along with the rest of the neighborhood, the house is part of the McKnight Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

The house at 66 Dartmouth Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was built in 1887 for businessman James A. Bill, Jr. and his wife Ella. Their only child, Raymond, was born a year later and grew up in this house. James was originally from Lyme, Connecticut, and as a young man he worked on board a steamboat that operated on the Connecticut River between Old Saybrook and Hartford. Despite living in Connecticut, his parents were apparently southern sympathizers, because three of his brothers, born before and during the Civil War, were named Kansas Nebraska Bill, Lecompton Constitution Bill, and Jefferson Davis Bill.

James Bill came to Springfield in 1875, first working for the Connecticut Central Railroad before becoming bookkeeper for the Union Envelope Company and the National Papeterie Company. He later became treasurer and manager of National Papeterie, but subsequently left the stationery business and became secretary, treasurer, and general manager of the Springfield Knitting Company. All three of the companies that he worked for in Springfield were owned, at least in part, by prominent businessman and philanthropist Nathan D. Bill. Like James, Nathan Bill’s family was also from southern Connecticut, although the two do not appear to have been related.

Aside from his business career, James Bill was also involved in local politics, serving on the city’s common council for five years and on the school board for three years. He lived here in this house until his death in 1909, and Ella and Raymond continued living here for a few more years. Raymond graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1910, and he soon went into business for himself, establishing Raymond R. Bill & Co., a Springfield-based heating company.

By the early 1920s, the house had been sold to real estate and insurance agent George S. Lampson, who lived here with his wife Henrietta and their children. They were still living here by the 1930 census, but they moved out at some point soon after. The house does not appear to be listed in the 1940 census, which was done only a year or two after the first photo was taken, so it is possible that the house was vacant at this point. Also, there appears to be a good amount of peeling paint in the first photo, suggesting that the house was probably in need of maintenance.

In the years after the first photo was taken, the exterior was covered in asbestos shingles, a popular material in the mid-20th century. However, the house was restored in the 1980s, with wooden clapboards replacing the shingles, and it now has a paint scheme that highlights the Victorian-era details. Along with the surrounding homes in the neighborhood, it is part of the McKnight Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

The house at 80 Dartmouth Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was built in 1891, and was originally the home of merchant Henry S. Safford and his wife Jessie. Born in Springfield in 1839, Safford had spent most of his career in the business world, but during the Civil War he worked for the War Department in Washington, D.C., where he was also inadvertently involved in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. In 1865, he was living in the Petersen House, a boarding house located directly across the street from Ford’s Theatre. On the night of the assassination, he heard a commotion on the streets, and after going outside to investigate he saw men carrying the wounded president. He directed them into the boarding house, and Lincoln was carried into a first floor bedroom, where he died a few hours later.

Aside from his connection to one of the most significant events in 19th century American history, Safford seems to have had a relatively unremarkable life. During the 1880 census, he was still living with his parents at their home on Central Street, and he did not marry until 1887, when he was 47 years old. When he and Jessie moved into this house a few years later, they were among the many upper middle class Springfield residents who purchased homes in the newly-developed McKnight neighborhood. They were still living here during the 1900 census, but by 1906 they had moved to an apartment on State Street. Henry was among the last living people with a connection to the Lincoln assassination, and he lived in Springfield until his death in 1917 at the age of 77.

In 1906, the house was purchased by Seth H. Barlow, a real estate broker. He and his wife Bertha had been married a few years earlier, and they went on to raise their three children here. Aside from his real estate business, Seth was a fire insurance agent, and he also served on the city’s Common Council for most of the 1910s. He and Bertha were living here when the first photo was taken, and they remained here until 1951, when they sold the house. Since then, the house has remained in excellent condition. In 1976, it became a part of the McKnight Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2013 the current owners received the Edward SIms Award for Stewardship from the Springfield Preservation Trust.