Street Scenes

Main Street, Plymouth, NH (2)

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Looking south on Main Street in Plymouth, toward the town common, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company.

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Main Street in 2015:

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These photos show the town common and some of the buildings on the west side of Main Street, which today comprise part of the Plymouth Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.  Despite the historic district designation, however, not much in this scene dates back to the 1908 photo.  The only building in both photos is the 1885 Pemigewasset National Bank Building, which can barely be seen behind some of the trees on the right-hand side of the photos.  It is still there, but it hasn’t been used as a bank since 1955, when the bank moved to a new building on Highland Street; it is barely visible south of the common, beyond the “Do Not Enter” sign in the left center.  The new bank building opened with much fanfare, with President Eisenhower cutting the ribbon at a ceremony that also included the governor, one of New Hampshire’s U.S. representatives, and both of their senators.  The 2015 photo in this post provides a better view of the building, which today is home to Northway Bank.

The town common is also part of the historic district, and although all of the original elm trees are gone, the original 1861 fence is still there.  It’s hard to see, but there is a bandstand on the common that was designed and built in 1903 by Francis V. Bulfinch, the grandson of noted architect Charles Bulfinch.  It is still standing, but it’s almost impossible to see from this angle because of the trees.  Across the street from the common, in the right center of the photo, is the post office.  It was built in 1936, replacing an earlier brick commercial block seen in the 1908 photo, and it is one of the contributing properties in the historic district.

Main Street, Plymouth, NH (1)

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The east side of Main Street in Plymouth, seen from the corner of Court Street around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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Main Street in 2015:

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The first photo shows a town center in transition. On the far left is an old house, which probably dates to the early 1800s.  This was likely one of many that once lined Main Street, but over time they were replaced with brick commercial blocks, like the 1898 Rollins Building that appears in the center of both photos.  Eventually, the house would be demolished and replaced by more commercial storefronts, which today make up the bulk of the east side of Main Street in the downtown area.  The days were also numbered for the Pemigewasset House, the hotel seen in the distance on the right side of the photo.  It was built in 1863 and burned down in early 1909, probably less than a year after the photo was taken.

Aside from the transition from residential to commercial buildings on Main Street, we also see changes in transportation.  The wood-framed commercial block just to the right of the Rollins Building has a sign out front that reads “Automobiles Stop Here for Gasolene,” and there is at least one car in the scene, on the far right.  However, the photo also includes several horse-drawn carriages that would have had no use for the “gasolene,” and would have instead used the watering trough in the middle of the street in the center of the photo.

Today, all of the buildings are gone except for the Rollins Building.  When the first photo was taken, the left storefront was the Fred W. Brown drugstore, which according to the sign on the left side of the building offered “Lowney’s Chocolate Bonbons.”  The storefront to the right was a market, and tables of produce can be seen under the awning.  More than a century later, the building is still used as a grocery store, the Chase Street Market.

Highland Street, Plymouth, NH

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Looking up Highland Street from Main Street in Plymouth, around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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Highland Street in 2018:

It’s hard to tell, but I don’t know if any of the buildings from the first scene survive today.  Many of the buildings in both photos are partially hidden by trees, but the most prominent building in the 1900s photo is the Tufts Building, on the far left.  It was built in 1880 by John S. Tufts, a local businessman who opened a dry goods store in 1861 just around the corner from here, and later opened a drugstore.  He died in 1888, but over a decade later his name still appears on the sign above the door.  There are at least four horse-drawn carriages outside the building in the first photo, and one of them is filled with milk cans, so these were probably local farmers making deliveries to the stores in the building.

I don’t know what happened to the Tufts Building, but it is possible that, like many other 19th century wood-framed commercial buildings, it may have burned down.  The building on the site today is Northway Bank, formerly the Pemigewasset National Bank.  This building opened in 1955, with President Eisenhower cutting the ribbon at the opening ceremonies.  The only building that might be the same from the first photo is the white building to the right.  There is a similar-looking building in the first photo, which appears to have been used as a workshop.  There are several carriages in front of it, so perhaps this was a carriage repair shop.  If it is the same building, today it is used as off-campus housing for students at Plymouth State University.

Main Street, Center Harbor, NH

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Looking northeast on Main Street in Center Harbor, with Red Hill in the distance, around 1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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Main Street in 2015:

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This scene was taken just up the road from the photos in this post; note the Center Harbor Congregational Church, which can be seen in the distance there and on the left here.  The church was built in 1838 and has stood there ever since, overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee.  The cemetery across the street is also still there, and if it wasn’t for the trees in the first photo, the Colonial Hotel would be visible beyond the cemetery on the right.  In the background of both photos is Red Hill, which rises 1500 feet above Lake Winnipesaukee and offers dramatic views of the surrounding landscape.

Over the years, the roads here have changed a bit.  In the 1906 photo, Main Street was the primary route from Meredith to Center Harbor, Moultonborough, and points north.  Today, most of this traffic travels on Route 25, which can be seen on the far right of the 2015 photo.  It is named the Whittier Highway, after poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who used to vacation in Center Harbor in the late 1800s.  Built parallel to Main Street, it cuts across the area where the Colonial Hotel once stood and allows through traffic to bypass much of the center of the village.

Center Harbor, NH

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Looking north on present-day Route 25 toward Center Harbor, around 1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The scene in 2015:

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As mentioned in some of the earlier Lake Winnipesaukee posts, when the first photo was taken the primary method of transportation to and around the lake was by railroad and/or steamboat.  In 1906, automobile ownership was still fairly rare, and the roads were not particularly well-suited for them, especially here in northern New England.  This road actually doesn’t look too bad, although at this point nearly all of the road traffic would have been horse-drawn carriages.  The Colonial Hotel is visible in the distance, and most of its guests would have arrived by the S.S. Mount Washington; the steamboat landing was just out of sight on the far right of the photo.

Today, the road is now Route 25, and it is a major route around the western end of Lake Winnipesaukee.  The Colonial Hotel has been gone for nearly a century, having been completely destroyed in a 1919 fire.  The house in the foreground must have been built soon after the first photo was taken, because its architectural style was common in the early 1900s.  The house and the trees now obscure the view of Red Hill from here, so only two identifiable features are visible in both photos: the Center Harbor Congregational Church, which is visible in the distance on the left, and parts of the old stone wall, which can barely be seen in the distance between the last two vehicles.

Veterans’ Association, Weirs Beach, NH (2)

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The Veterans’ Association buildings along Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach, around 1900-1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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Lakeside Avenue in 2015:

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As mentioned in the previous post, Weirs Beach became the annual meeting place for New Hampshire’s Civil War veterans, who established the New Hampshire Veterans’ Association.  Beginning in the 1870s, the organization held its annual reunions here, and over time the different regiments built their own buildings for their members to stay in.  Many of these buildings fronted present-day Lakeside Avenue, as seen in the first photo.  Starting in the foreground is the Headquarters, located at the corner of New Hampshire Avenue, followed by the 3rd Regiment, 7th Regiment, 9th & 11th Regiments, and the Cavalry Headquarters.

All of these buildings were built between 1885 and 1888, and all survive except for the 3rd Regiment Building, which was lost in the same 1924 fire that destroyed the New Hotel Weirs.  The only other significant loss from the first photo is the statue, which was dedicated in 1894 and destroyed by lightning in 1931.  Today, the property is still owned by the New Hampshire Veterans’ Association, and although many other buildings on the site have since been destroyed or demolished, the view along Lakeside Avenue still looks a lot like how it did over a century ago.