Springfield Massachusetts

36 Mattoon Street, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 36 Mattoon Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

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The house in 2018:

This house was built in 1888, at the same time as the matching duplex to the right, and these properties were among the last 19th century buildings to be completed on Mattoon Street. They were both owned by Lebbeus C. Smith, who rented this house to other tenants. One such resident here in 1901 was George Newell Bowers, an artist who was active in Springfield in the late 1800s and early 1900s. All three of the buildings visible in the first photo have been restored and are still standing today, and they are part of the Quadrangle-Mattoon Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Kingsbury House, Springfield, Mass

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The Kingsbury House at 34 Mattoon Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

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The house in 2015:

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This house on Mattoon Street was built in 1873, and it was originally owned by George O. Kingsbury, a real estate developer who built over 400 homes in Springfield. His house was one of four identical four-story brick townhouses, all of which were built by contractors A.B. Howe and C.C. Moulton for some of the city’s prominent residents. However, over time the buildings deteriorated, and three of the four were demolished in the early 1970s, leaving only the Kingsbury house still standing. The vacant lot to the left was filled in the 1980s, though, when a condominium building was built at 26-32 Mattoon Street. Although new, it was designed to match the Victorian architecture of the rest of the street, and today it blends in well with the historic homes around it.

John Rollings House, Springfield, Mass

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The John Rollings House at 24 Mattoon Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

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The house in 2015:

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This house is one of the new on Mattoon Street that was built as a detached single-family home. It was built in 1882, and for 23 years it was owned by John Edwin Rollings, an English-born carpet designer who worked for the Hartford Carpet Company. He was listed as living here in the 1900 census, along with two Scottish roomers and a housekeeper. Rollings remarried in 1901, but he died in 1905 at the age of 52. Today, the house is one of many historic Victorian homes on Mattoon Street, and it is part of the Quadrangle-Mattoon Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Kilroy House, Springfield, Mass

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The Kilroy House at 63 Chestnut Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

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The house in 2015:

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As mentioned in an earlier post, this site was once the home of publisher George Merriam, the co-founder of Merriam-Webster. He died in 1880, and the house was demolished around the turn of the century. It was replaced with two houses, one of which was this Mission Revival style house, which was completed in 1905 for Dr. Philip Kilroy, an Irish-born doctor who had his home and office here. After his death, the house was owned by WSPR, a radio station that was broadcast from here from 1936 to 1981. It is now owned by the Springfield Library and Museums Association and is used as their offices.

Architecturally, this house is significant because it is one of only a few Mission Revival style houses in Springfield, and as the two photos show it has been well preserved over the years. It is also one of the last few surviving homes along this section of Chestnut Street, which was once a fashionable street for Springfield’s upper class.

Chestnut Street, Springfield, Mass

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Looking south on Chestnut Street in Springfield, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

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Chestnut Street in 2015:

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This section of Chestnut Street runs atop a hill overlooking downtown Springfield, and in the first half of the 19th century it became home to some of the city’s wealthiest residents. The two houses in the foreground are the George Merriam House and the George Bancroft House, both of which have been featured in previous posts. The Merriam house on the left side was owned by George Merriam, who along with his brother Charles founded Merriam-Webster. The house in the center was owned by a series of prominent individuals, including George Bancroft, a historian and future Secretary of the Navy and Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Other owners included George Walker who was a prominent business executive, and William H. Haile, a politician who erved as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1890 to 1892.

Today, all of these houses are gone. The only building that has survived from the first photo is Christ Church Cathedral, which is barely visible in the distance. The Merriam house was demolished around 1905 and two new houses were built on the lot, including the 1905 Kilroy House on the far left. The Bancroft house was demolished by 1933, when the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts was built here, and the third house in the distance was also demolished in the early 20th century to build the church rectory, which is still standing today.

George Merriam House, Springfield, Mass

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The George Merriam House at 55 Chestnut Street in Springfield, around 1893. Image from Sketches of the old inhabitants and other citizens of old Springfield (1893).

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The scene in 2015:

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The house in the first photo was built in the mid-1820s, and was owned by several different members of the wealthy Dwight family, including Edmund Dwight and later his nephew, Jonathan Dwight III. By far the most significant resident of this house, though, was George Merriam, who purchased the house in 1848. George and his younger brother Charles moved to Springfield in 1831, and opened a publishing company, located at the Old Corner Bookstore at the corner of Main and State Streets. In 1843, they purchased the rights to publish Noah Webster’s dictionary, which soon became a success. Five years later, George moved into this house on Chestnut Street, which at the time was home to some of the city’s most prominent residents. His brother Charles lived in an equally elegant house on Howard Street, in the city’s South End.

George lived here until his death in 1880, and the house remained in the Merriam family until around the turn of the century. It was demolished by 1905, though, and property was divided into two house lots. The one on the right has since been demolished, but the one on the left, known as the Kilroy House, is still standing. Both lots are now owned by the Springfield Library and Museums Association, and the Kilroy House now serves as offices.