Street Scenes

Richard Manning House, Salem, Massachusetts

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The view looking north on Herbert Street in Salem, around 1890-1910, with the Richard Manning House at 10 1/2 Herbert Street in the center of the scene. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos show the scene on Herbert Street, a narrow side street that extends northward from Derby Street in the historic seaport area of Salem. Both photos show a number of historic late 18th and early 19th century buildings, but the most significant one is the three-story house in the center of both photos. It was built around 1790 as the home of Richard and Miriam Manning, the maternal grandparents of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, and it was Hawthorne’s home for much of his childhood and early adulthood.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem on July 4, 1804, in a house that once stood nearby on Union Street, which is the next street over on the left side of this scene. He lived there with his family until 1808, when his father Nathaniel—a merchant ship captain—died of yellow fever in Suriname. The young Nathaniel, his two siblings, and their mother Elizabeth then moved into this house with Elizabeth’s parents. He went on to spend much of his childhood here, and then later lived here as a young adult, after graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825.

It was here that Hawthorne wrote some of his earliest works, including many of the stories that were later published in Twice-Told Tales and The Snow-Image. He lived in a room on the third floor, and in 1840 he reflected upon this room, writing:

Here I sit, in my old, accustomed chamber where I used to sit in days gone by. Thousands of visions have appeared to me in it; and some few of them have become visible to the world. If ever I should have a biographer, he ought to make great mention of this chamber in my memoirs, because so much of my lonely youth was wasted here, and here my mind and character  were formed, and here I have been glad and hopeful, and here I have been despondent. And here I sat for a long, long time waiting patiently for the world to know me, and sometimes wondering why it did not know me sooner, or whether it would ever know me at all—at least until I were in my grave. And sometimes it seemed as if I were already in the grave, with only life enough to be chilled and benumbed. But oftener I was happy, at least as I then knew how to be, or was aware of the possibility of being. By and by, the world found me out in my lonely chamber, and called me forth,—not, indeed, with a loud roar of acclamation, but rather with a still, small voice—and forth I went, but found nothing in the world that I thought preferable to my old solitude till now. And now I begin to understand why I was imprisoned so many years in this lonely chamber, and why I could never break through the viewless bolts and bars; for if I had sooner made my escape into the world, I should have grown hard and rough, and have been covered with earthly dust, and my heart might have become callous by rude encounter with the multitude. But living in solitude till the fulness of time was come, I still kept the dew of my youth and the freshness of my heart.

This passage characterizes the love-hate relationship that Hawthorne seemed to have with not just his childhood home, but also Salem in general. After his marriage to Sophia Peabody in 1842, the couple lived at the Old Manse in Concord until 1845, when they returned to Salem. Hawthorne was appointed as Surveyor of the Port of Salem in 1846, which he obtained largely because of his friendship with fellow Bowdoin College classmate and future U.S. President Franklin Pierce. For the next three years he worked at the Custom House on Derby Street, and he and Sophia lived in several different houses during that period, including one at 18 Chestnut Street and another one at 14 Mall Street.

However, he was dismissed from his position at the Custom House after the Whig Party took control of the White House in 1849, and he subsequently channeled many of his frustrations into an essay called “The Custom-House,” in which he criticized the Custom House in particular but also Salem as a whole. It became the introduction to Hawthorne’s most famous work, The Scarlet Letter, which he wrote at his Mall Street house in 1849 and early 1850. He would leave Salem for good after this, and lived in Lenox for a time before returning to Concord, where he and Sophia lived with their children at The Wayside until his death in 1864.

In the meantime, his childhood home in Salem was still owned by the Manning family as late as the 1850s, but it subsequently saw a number of different owners throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of these owners appear to have used it as a rental property for immigrant families. In 1900, for example, it was the home of Eva Morel, a 31-year-old French-Canadian immigrant who lived here with her three young children.

The top photo was taken around this time, probably sometime between 1890 and 1910. It shows Hawthorne’s childhood home in the center of the scene, surrounded by other 18th and 19th century houses. The house just beyond it, at 10 Herbert Street, was built in 1874, and the one across the street in the foreground on the right side, at 11 Herbert Street, was built around 1840.

Today, more than a century after the top photo was taken, much of this scene is still recognizable. The house on the far left was replaced by the present-day house in 1912, the yard in the foreground is now a parking lot, and Hawthorne’s house has seen some alterations, including the removal of the large central chimney. However, most of the houses from the top photo are still standing. And, quite remarkably, the large tree in the foreground is also still here. Depending on its exact age, it is quite plausible that this tree might have been a young sapling when Hawthorne was living across the street.

Chestnut Street from Summer Street, Salem, Massachusetts

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The view looking west on Chestnut Street from the corner of Summer Street in Salem, around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos show the view looking west on Chestnut Street from the east end of the street, at Summer Street. As described in previous posts, the street was developed in the early 19th century as an upscale residential neighborhood. At the time, Salem was a major seaport, and Chestnut Street became home to many of Salem’s merchants and sea captains. Most of the houses feature Federal-style architecture, although there are also some examples of later 19th century styles, including the Italianate home on the right side, which was built in 1853.

The top photo was taken around the turn of the 20th century by Frank Cousins, who documented many of the historic homes and streetscapes in Salem. Since then, very little has changed aside from the paved street and the parked cars. Overall, the street is one of the best-preserved examples of a Federal-style neighborhood in New England, and it is part of the Chestnut Street District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Chestnut Street from Cambridge Street, Salem, Massachusetts

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The view looking west on Chestnut Street from the corner of Cambridge Street in Salem, around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos show the view looking down Chestnut Street, which was developed in the early 19th century as an upscale residential neighborhood for Salem’s merchant class. Most of the homes feature Federal style architecture, and some of the ones in this scene have been highlighted in previous posts, including the James B. Bott House, the John C. Lee House, and the Captain Jonathan Hodges House.

Closest to the foreground, at the corner of Cambridge Street, is the house at 10 Chestnut Street, which was built around 1808 as the home of merchant Nathan Robinson. He lived here until his death in 1835, and the house was subsequently owned by several other families before being purchased by artist Philip Little in 1888. He was living here when the top photo was taken around the turn of the 20th century, and he remained here until his death in 1942.

Today, very little has changed in more than a century since the top photos was taken. All of the houses are still standing, and most have remained relatively unaltered. The street is one of the best surviving examples of a Federal-style residential neighborhood anywhere in New England, and it is part of the Chestnut Street District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Corner of Longmeadow Street and Emerson Road, Longmeadow, Massachusetts (2)

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A wintry scene looking southeast toward the intersection of Longmeadow Street and Emerson Road in Longmeadow, around 1902-1909. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The scene in 2024:


These two photos show the same scene as the ones in the previous post, except these photos here were taken in the winter rather than in the summer. And, rather than being taken from ground level, they are taken from the southeastern bedroom on the second floor of the Josiah Cooley House. The photographer who took the top photo, Paesiello Emerson, lived in this house in the early 20th century with his half siblings Annie and Henry, and this is one of the many photos that he took of Longmeadow during this period.

The top photo is undated, but as explained in the previous post it must have been taken in 1909 or earlier, due to the presence of the house on the far right side of the photo. This house was demolished around 1909, when Springfield-based heating and plumbing contractor George R. Estabrook purchased the property and built a new house on the site. Likewise, the house on the left, which stood at the corner of Bliss Street, was demolished around the late 1920s in order to build St. Mary’s Church.

Today, both the church and the former Estabrook house are still standing, and the latter now serves as the rectory. Although these were built after the top photo was taken, the overall scene is still recognizable from that photo, especially when the landscape is covered with freshly-fallen snow. And, there is at least one noticeable surviving feature from the top photo—the maple tree in the foreground. It is now probably around 150 years old, and it still stands in the front yard of the Josiah Cooley House.

Corner of Longmeadow Street and Emerson Road, Longmeadow, Massachusetts

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The view looking southeast toward the intersection of Longmeadow Street and Emerson Road, sometime around 1902-1909. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Paesiello Emerson Collection.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos were taken from the front yard of the Josiah Cooley House, looking southeast across Longmeadow Street. The top photo was taken by amateur photographer Paesiello Emerson, who lived in the Cooley House, and it is one of the many images that he captured of early 20th century Longmeadow.

The top photo shows a trolley traveling northbound on Longmeadow Street. At the time, trolley tracks ran the length of the street from the Connecticut state line in the south, to the Springfield border on the north. The tracks were operated by the Springfield Street Railway, and this provided direct service from Longmeadow to Springfield. Passengers could also take the trolleys south to Hartford, so this section of track in Longmeadow provided an important link in the interurban trolley system between these two major cities.

The trolley was a sign of changing times here in Longmeadow. Throughout the 19th century, the town had remained a small agricultural community, with very little development aside for the houses that lined either side of Longmeadow Street. However, the arrival of the trolley line meant that people could now live in Longmeadow and easily commute to Springfield, so by the early 20th century many of the old farms were being subdivided into residential streets.

On the other side of Longmeadow Street in the top photo, several old houses are visible through the trees. It’s hard to say whether this was a deliberate juxtaposition on Paesiello Emerson’s part, to show the modern trolley with a backdrop of old farmhouses, but the photo certainly has that effect. These two houses, which once stood on the east side of Longmeadow Street just south of Bliss Road, were likely built at some point in the 18th or early 19th centuries, but both would disappear within the first few decades of the 20th century.

The house further to the right, just beyond the trolley, was the first to go. Its presence in the photo helps to establish the date that it was taken, because the house was demolished by about 1909, when Springfield-based heating and plumbing contractor George R. Estabrook purchased the property and built a new brick house on the site. Further to the left, the house at the corner of Bliss Street was demolished around the late 1920s, in order to build St. Mary’s Church.

Aside from new buildings across the street, this scene would undergo more changes in the years after the top photo was taken. As automobiles became more common in the early 20th century, Longmeadow Street became part of the main north-south route through the Connecticut River Valley. This was made official with the designation of New England Route 2 in 1922, which was later renumbered as U.S. Route 5 with the establishment of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926. Longmeadow Street was a part of this route, resulting in heavy automobile traffic through the center of a town that, a few decades prior, had been a quiet village on the outskirts of Springfield. This led to concerns about speeding, and after a string of traffic fatalities in 1927 the town decided to install traffic lights at five key intersections, including one here at the corner of Emerson Road.

Today, almost nothing survives from the top photo, but this scene has still managed to retain much of its original scale, even if the buildings themselves are different. St. Mary’s Church still stands at the corner nearly a century after it was built, and next to it is the house that George Estabrook built around 1909. This house was sold to the church in the 1930s, and it now serves as the rectory. However, perhaps the only identifiable thing that survives from the top photo is the maple tree in the foreground on the right side of both photos. It is probably around 150 years old now, and it still stands here in the front yard of the Josiah Cooley House.

Springfield Street Railway Car House, Springfield, Massachusetts (2)

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The car house of the Springfield Street Railway, seen from the corner of Main and Bond Streets in Springfield probably in 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The scene in 2023:

As explained in more detail in the previous post, these two photos show one of the trolley barns that was used by the Springfield Street Railway. The top photo was probably taken right around the same time as the one in the previous post, since both photos show the same shadows in the same positions on the front of the building.

The top photo was taken shortly after the Springfield Street Railway system was electrified in the early 1890s. Prior to this time, the cars rode on rails in the streets but were pulled by horses. The switch to electric trolleys meant that the railway no longer had the expense of keeping several hundred horses, but instead the company needed facilities to store, maintain, and repair trolleys.

The building in the top photo was built sometime around the late 1880s or early 1890s, and it stood on the east side of Main Street between Carew and Bond Streets. The railway also had facilities around the corner on Bond Street and a little to the north of here on Hooker Street, both of which had much larger storage capacities than this one here on Main Street. However, during the mid-1890s this was the only one with pits beneath the tracks, meaning that every car in the system had to be rotated through here on a nightly basis for inspections.

Over time, the railway added new trolley barns, including one on the north side of Carew Street in 1897, along with a new one at Hooker Street in 1916. The old building here on the south side of Carew Street appears to have remained in use into the 20th century, but by the 1930s the trolley lines were steadily being replaced by buses, with the last trolley service ending in 1940.

The 1897 trolley barn on the north side of Carew Street is still standing, and the corner of the building is visible on the far left side of the second photo. However, the earlier trolley barn that is shown in the first photo is long gone. After the demise of the trolleys it was converted into commercial and retail use, and it stood here until December 1971, when it was destroyed by a fire. Its former location is now a gas station, as shown in the second photo.