Detroit Publishing Company

Long Sands Beach, York, Maine

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The view of Long Sands Beach in York, Maine, between 1900 and 1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Beaches

In 2011:

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The landscape hasn’t changed much – not many of the present-day buildings are readily identifiable in the early 20th century photo, but in either case the style of buildings hasn’t changed much in the past 100 years.  A few buildings that definitely do still exist are the cottages on the bluff on the far right hand side of the old photo.  Although this area is outside the frame of the 2011 photo, other photos of the area show that those buildings are still there.

Cape Neddick, York, Maine

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The view of Cape Neddick from Long Sands Beach in York, Maine, between 1890 and 1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

York

The same view in 2011:

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In the past 100 years, Cape Neddick went from being almost deserted, to being covered with vacation homes.  The only readily-identifiable structure in both photos is the Cape Neddick “Nubble” Lighthouse, located at the end of the peninsula on a small, rocky island known as the Nubble.  However, with close examination, at least one of the cottages from the old photograph still exists – the one with the tower in the center of the roof on the far-left side of the photo.

White House from the Washington Monument

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The view of the White House, as seen from the top of the Washington Monument between 1906 and 1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 1945. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection.

The same view in 2021:

Unlike the view looking slightly northwest of here, there have not been many dramatic changes between these three photos. The White House is there, as are the two wings (although both the main building and the wings have been extensively gutted and remodeled in the intervening century), and the Old Executive Office Building (left of the White House) and the Treasury Building (right of the White House) are still there, as are the landscaping features such as the Ellipse in the foreground.  Otherwise, the appearance of the city, given skyscrapers are not permitted, remains much the same as it did 100 years ago.

Looking northwest from the Washington Monument

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The view from the top of the Washington Monument, taken between 1906 and 1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 1945. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection.

The same view in 2021:

All three of these photos are taken looking almost directly down Virginia Ave., but other than the street network, not much remains from the early 1900s photo.  As least two buildings are identifiable in both that photo and the 2021 scene: the white building in the lower right, and the building to the right of it (which is barely visible in the first photo).  They are the Organization of American States and the Daughters of the American Revolution buildings, respectively.

Otherwise, the area looks remarkably sparse in the first photo, primarily because most of the land in the foreground did not exist before the 1880s, when the Potomac River was dredged, and the dredged material used to fill in this area to address flooding issues.  The Constitution Gardens, visible in the lower left of the 2021 photo, would not exist for another 70 years.  Shortly after the first photo was taken, the Navy built temporary offices during World War I.  These “temporary” offices, which are shown in the 1945 photo, lasted into the 1970s, when they were demolished to create the pond and parkland visible today.

Post Office & Customs House, Springfield

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The northwest corner of Main and Worthington in Springfield, sometime before 1890. Photo from Springfield Present and Prospective (1905).

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The same location, around 1905, after construction of the Post Office and Customs House. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Government

The scene in 2023:

The first photo shows the Wilcox Block, an old commercial building that likely dated back to the early 19th century. Located on the west side of Main Street between Worthington and Fort Streets, it was demolished in 1889 and replaced with the city’s first purpose-built post office. As seen in the second photo this building was an imposing, castle-like Romanesque structure, built of brownstone quarried from nearby Longmeadow. It housed a post office on the first floor, with customs and other federal offices on the second floor, but within a few decades the building was too small for the growing population of Springfield. In 1932, a new, much larger post office and federal building opened on Dwight Street, and the old building here was demolished the following year. In 1939, it was replaced with the present-day Art Deco building, which was originally home to the Enterprise department store.

 

Today, there are still several buildings standing from the earlier photos, though. The Homestead Building, completed in 1903, was once used as the offices for the Springfield Homestead newspaper, and it is visible on the left side of the 1905 and 2023 photos. On the far right side, the only building that appears in all three photos is the Fort Block. Built in 1858, it was heavily altered in the early 1920s, but it is still standing, and is best known today as the longtime home of the Student Prince restaurant.

Railroad Arch, Springfield, Massachusetts

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Looking north toward the Boston & Albany Railroad arch over Main Street in Springfield, between 1900 and 1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The railroad arch in 2024:

For many years, there was no bridge over Main Street, forcing the busy rail line to cross the busy road at grade. Finally, in 1890, the stone arch was built, and survives to this day, even when none of the other buildings from the first decade of the 20th century have.  See the 1882 photo in this post for a view of Main Street before the arch was built.