Detroit Publishing Company Archives - Page 70 of 114

Post Office, Boston

December 5, 2015October 17, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The old post office at Post Office Square in Boston, around 1906-1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2015:

The triangular intersection of Congress, Pearl, and Milk Streets has been known as Post Office Square since 1874, with the completion of the post office seen in the first photo. The square was actually the result of the Great Boston Fire of 1872, which destroyed most of the buildings around the post office, which was under construction at the time. The small park is still there, although most of the buildings around it have changed.

The old post office was demolished to build the John W. McCormack Post Office and Courthouse, which was completed in 1933 and is still standing today. It features Art Deco architecture, and at 22 stories and 600,000 square feet it is substantially larger than its predecessor. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and it is still used as a federal courthouse, post office, and federal office building. Just to the right of it is the former National Shawmut Bank Building, which was built in 1906 and can be seen in both photos. At least one other building from the first photo, the 1893 International Trust Company Building, is still standing today; it is visible in the distance on the left, at the corner of Devonshire and Milk Streets.

North Station, Boston

July 7, 2024October 16, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The original North Station on Causeway Street in Boston, around 1893-1899. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2015:

The scene in 2024, showing recent development in front of TD Garden:

Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote about Boston as being “The Hub of the Solar System,” and although he was using the phrase sarcastically, the city would soon become the transportation hub of New England. By the late 1800s, there were at least eight railroads that radiated outward from Boston, with each one having its own separate terminal. However, these eight different stations were both inconvenient for passengers and also a poor use of valuable land.

Here in the northern part of the city, four different railroads each had their own stations within a several block radius: the Boston and Maine, Boston and Lowell, Eastern Railroad, and the Fitchburg Railroad. All but the Boston and Maine had their passenger terminals in a row here along Causeway Street, so in 1893 the North Union Station opened here, consolidating all four railroads into one building. It was designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, a prominent Boston architectural firm that would design South Station six years later, when the four south side terminals were likewise consolidated.

The original North Station was demolished in 1927 to build the Boston Garden, which also included a reconstructed station. Boston Garden was home to the Boston Bruins from 1928 to 1995, and the Boston Celtics from 1946 to 1995, and the it was demolished in 1998, three years after the completion of the present-day TD Garden. Today’s North Station is located directly underneath the TD Garden, although today none of the four railroads that opened the first station even exist anymore. Amtrak has only one passenger route, the Downeaster, that stops here, although it is the terminal for four of the MBTA Commuter Rail lines. Above the station, the Bruins and Celtics still play here, just behind the spot where the Boston Garden once stood.

Emancipation Memorial, Park Square, Boston

October 7, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Emancipation Memorial at Park Square, photographed around 1900-1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Park Square in 2015:

This statue at Park Square is a copy of the original Emancipation Memorial at Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C., which was designed by Charlestown, Massachusetts native Thomas Ball and dedicated in 1876. Designed to memorialize Abraham Lincoln and his role as the “Great Emancipator,” it shows Lincoln standing over a slave who is kneeling in front of him, with shackles on his wrist. The original was paid for entirely by donations from freed slaves, but it has not been without controversy. At the dedication ceremony, Frederick Douglass was reported to have criticized the slave’s position on his knees, and more recent historians have also objected to his seemingly inferior position in front of Lincoln.

Boston’s copy of the statue was donated to the city in 1879 by local politician Moses Kimball. It has a different pedestal than the Washington one, which reads “A race set free and the country at peace Lincoln rests from his labors.” The statue’s appearance has changed very little over the years, except for the planters at each corner. However, the surrounding neighborhood has completely changed. The buildings behind the statue in the first photo show signs for a plumbing supply company, furniture upholsterers, and even Cuban cigars, over 50 years before they were outlawed. On the extreme right is one of the buildings from the former Boston and Providence Railroad depot, which closed a few years earlier when the railroad was rerouted to South Station. Today, the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, which was built in 1927 and is just out of view in the 2015 photo, stands on the site of the former depot.

Armory of the First Corps of Cadets, Boston

September 29, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The armory at the corner of Arlington Street and Columbus Avenue in Boston, around 1904. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The building in 2015:

Mixed in with modern high-rise buildings, this building looks more like it belongs in medieval Europe than in Boston, but it once served an important role in the city’s history. It was one of many National Guard armories built across the state in the late 1800s, and it bears some resemblance to Springfield’s state armory, which was built around the same time. The Armory of the First Corps of Cadets was built between 1891 and 1897, and like many other prominent civic buildings in late 19th century Boston it was designed by William Gibbons Preston, whose other works included Mechanics Hall and the Museum of Natural History. Although the castle-like building seems somewhat whimsical in appearance, it actually served a very practical purpose; in the event of riots or other civil unrest, it would be able to withstand any attacks. The tower could even be used to exchange signals with officials at the Massachusetts State House, which is located on the other side of Boston Common.

Over a hundred years after its construction, the armory is relatively unchanged on the exterior, although it has gone through several different uses over the years. In the mid-20th century it was used for several different military-related museums, and in 1966 it was sold to a private owner. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and went through several different uses, including as a library and as an exhibition hall. Today, it is owned by the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and is rented as a banquet and conference facility.

Mechanics Hall, Boston

September 28, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Mechanics Hall building on Huntington Avenue in Boston, around 1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The site in 2015:

Mechanics Hall was a convention center and civic arena located in Boston’s Back Bay, in a triangular-shaped lot between Huntington Avenue to the south, the Boston & Albany rail yard to the north, and West Newton Street to the west. It was completed in 1881, and was designed by William Gibbons Preston, whose other works in Boston included the Rogers Building on the original MIT campus, and the old Museum of Natural History building.

The building was owned by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, and included a large auditorium that was used for various conventions, shows, track meets, wrestling matches, and other events. It was even briefly home to Boston’s first professional basketball team: the 1925-1926 Boston Whirlwinds of the American Basketball League, who began their only season in the Matthews Arena before moving their home games here and then later to a Knights of Columbus Hall in Somerville. The team ended up disbanding partway through the season, after playing just 16 games.

The first photo shows the trolley line running down the median of Huntington Avenue. This section of the trolley was put underground in 1941, and Mechanics station was built here to serve the building. However, Mechanics Hall was becoming obsolete, and by the 1950s the neighboring rail yard was being eyed for redevelopment as the Prudential Center. As part of the project, Mechanics Hall was demolished in 1959, and today the skyscraper at 111 Huntington Avenue occupies part of the former building’s location, as seen to the right in the 2015 photo.

Museum of Natural History, Boston

September 28, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Museum of Natural History building on Berkeley Street in Boston, around 1904. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The building in 2015:

This historic building on Berkeley Street is one of the oldest buildings in the Back Bay neighborhood. It was constructed in 1863 on a block that was set aside for the Museum of Natural History and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Eventually, two MIT buildings would be built in this block between Berkeley and Clarendon Streets, the first of which was the 1866 Rogers Building. The Rogers Building’s architecture matched the Museum of Natural History, and it can be clearly seen in the distance in the first photo.

MIT remained here until 1916, when they relocated to their much larger campus across the Charles River in Cambridge. The Rogers Building, along with the neighboring Walker Memorial Building, were demolished in 1939 to build the New England Mutual Life Insurance Building, which is still standing in the distance in the 2015 photo. The museum was located in this building until 1951, when it was renamed the Boston Museum of Science and moved to its present location on the Charles River. After the museum left, it has been used by several different companies as a retail store, including Bonwit Teller and Louis Boston. In 2013, the home furnishing company Restoration Hardware opened their Boston gallery in the building, which still remains well-preserved and relatively unchanged after over 150 years and a number of ownership changes.