Street Scenes

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.

Veterans’ Association, Weirs Beach, NH (1)

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The Civil War Monument and the entrance to the New Hampshire Veterans’ Association grounds on Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach, 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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Located on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, the village of Weirs Beach in Laconia became a popular destination in the late 1800s.  Among the many people who traveled north in the summer were the Civil War veterans of the New Hampshire Veterans’ Association, whose reunions were held here.  Over the years, a number of buildings were added to the property, including the Lowell Building, seen in the center of both photos at the top of New Hampshire Avenue.  The sign over the road was added three years later, and in 1885 the Headquarters Building was built to the left, at the corner of Lakeside Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue.  The New Hotel Weirs can be seen on the far right, and the most recent addition to the 1906 scene was the statue, which was dedicated in 1894 in honor of Laommi Bean, a Weirs Beach farmer who was killed in the Civil War.  Today, the sign is long gone, and the statue was struck by lightning and destroyed in 1931. However, the property is still owned by the New Hampshire Veterans’ Association, and many of the historic buildings, including the Headquarters Building and the Lowell Building, have been restored.

Springfield and Eastern Street Railway, Palmer Mass

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A Springfield and Eastern Street Railway trolley in downtown Palmer, on Main Street opposite Bridge Street, in 1905. Image courtesy of the Palmer Public Library.

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The scene in 2015:

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The town of Palmer was once a major transportation hub, as indicated by its nickname, the “Town of Seven Railroads.” Although not all of these railroads were ever operational, at the time that the first photo was taken there were five different railroads operating in the town, but that didn’t include the many trolley lines that also served Palmer. The trolley line along Main Street belonged to the Springfield and Eastern Street Railway, and it connected Monson, Brimfield, and other points east to the city of Springfield, some 15 miles to the west. The line opened in 1898 as the Palmer and Monson Street Railway, and connected the two rapidly developing industrial towns. In 1901, the line was extended to connect with the Springfield Street Railway, and in 1905 the company was renamed to reflect its role in connecting Springfield to the towns to the east.

The first few decades of the 20th century were the heyday for trolleys, but as time went on they faced competition from buses and automobiles.  The line closed by the late 1920s, and today nothing from the first photo has survived., including the building directly behind the trolley in the 1905 scene.  It was the Converse Hotel, which at the time was conventiently located on the main road from Boston to Springfield.  Today, its former location at the corner of Main and Walnut Streets is now a parking lot.