Street Scenes Archives - Page 61 of 96

Main Street, Monson Mass (1)

June 18, 2015June 17, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking south on Main Street in Monson, from Fountain Street, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

Main Street in 2015:

Some of the buildings from the first photo no longer exist, but others survive today, despite over 120 years having passed, along with a direct hit from a tornado four years ago. The Monson Free Library building is visible in the first photo, and is obscured by trees in the second but still there. Next to it is the Soldiers’ Monument, and then in the distance in the center of both photos are two 19th century houses that survive today. These buildings all sustained some amount of damage from the June 1, 2011 tornado that swept through the center of Monson, and the path of the tornado can still be seen in the hillside in the distance; note the difference between the taller, dark green trees to the left and the shorter, light green trees to the right.

The left-hand side of Main Street, however, has completely changed since 1892, and it didn’t take too long. The most prominent building in this scene is what appears to be a church. In fact, it wasn’t a church at the time, but it used to be. It was built in 1803, across the street and up the hill, and was the second building for the First Church of Monson. When the time came to build a new building, the old one didn’t go to waste; it was moved down the hill and across the street in 1871, and was renovated with shops on the first floor and a meeting hall on the second floor, known as Green’s Hall. It was used for a variety of social events until the building burned down in 1895.

Main Street, Wilbraham Mass

June 15, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on Main Street from Springfield Street, probably around 1900. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

Main Street in 2015:

This scene along Main Street in the center of Wilbraham hasn’t changed much in the past century or so. At least one of the buildings from the first photo is gone, and Main Street is now paved, but overall the center of Wilbraham retains much of its 19th and early 20th century character. The first photo shows several historic buildings that survive today. On the far left is the steeple of the Memorial Chapel, built in 1870 and now part of the Wilbraham & Monson Academy campus. In front of it is the 1793 Old Methodist Meeting House, and in the left-center of both photos is the 1836 Rev. John W. Hardy House. The house in the right-center of the first photo is no longer there, and the store on the far right looks like the one in the present-day scene, but there are some differences. Either it is a completely different building today, or it has been expanded, because it appears to be much close to the Hardy house than in the first view.

First Congregational Church, Wilbraham Mass (2)

June 12, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on Main Street in Wilbraham, with the First Congregational Church in the center, taken around 1900-1911. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

Main Street in 2015:

Taken from a similar angle as the ones in this post, these photos show some of the changes on Main Street in Wilbraham over the past century. I don’t have an exact date for this photo, but it was taken sometime between 1896, when the Allis House just beyond the church burned down, and 1911, when the church itself burned. Today, the site of the church is now Gazebo Park, and the house in the right foreground is also gone, although many similar historic houses still exist on Main Street.

Allis House and First Church, Wilbraham Mass (2)

June 12, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Another Main Street view of the Allis House and the First Church, sometime in the 1880s or 1890s. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

Main Street in 2015:

As mentioned in this post, both of these buildings in the first scene were destroyed in separate fires, not too long after the photo was taken. The Allis House to the left was a hotel and tavern, offering accommodations for salesmen and other business travelers as well as providing food and entertainment for locals. It burned in August 1896, but the 1964 History of Wilbraham book suggests that it may not have been accidental; business was apparently declining, and according to a local rumor the resident handyman ran out of the burning building yelling at Mrs. Allis for not telling him when she was planning on burning the place down.

Just under 15 years later the Congregational Church just to the right of the Allis House was also destroyed in a fire, although there was unquestionably no insurance fraud involved here; the steeple was struck by lightning and the church burned to the ground. Today, Gazebo Park is located on the spot where the old church once stood, along with its two predecessors and its successor, before the present-day church was built in 1958 a short distance down Main Street.

Main Street, Wilbraham Mass

June 12, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking south on Main Street from the corner of Springfield Street in 1903. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

Main Street in 2015:

In the past 112 years, Wilbraham has seen significant population growth, but overall its downtown area has retained the small-town feel that it had when the first photo was taken. At the turn of the 20th century, the town’s population was actually in decline, having lost about 25% of its population between 1850 and 1900. Like many other New England towns, its soil wasn’t particularly well-suited for large-scale farming, and while other cities and towns were industrializing in the 19th century, Wilbraham lacked suitable rivers for any significant industrial development.

It wasn’t until the second half of the 20th century the population started to grow dramatically, with former farmland being developed into residential neighborhoods. Today, Wilbraham is an affluent suburb of Springfield, and its town center doesn’t look much different from 100 or even 200 years ago, with most of the buildings along Main Street dating to the 18th or 19th centuries. One such house is the Isaac Brewer House, visible on the right-hand side of both photos. It was built around 1748, and is one of the oldest houses in the town. Across the street, however, the old First Congregational Church is gone; it burned in 1911, and today Gazebo Park occupies the spot where the church once stood.

Southwick Congregational Church, Southwick Mass

February 9, 2018June 9, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Southwick Congregational Church on College Highway in Southwick, around 1892. Image from Picturesque Hampden (1892).

The church in 2015:

If this historic church in Southwick resembles a scaled-down version of Springfield’s Old First Church, there is good reason for that – both were designed by Northampton architect Isaac Damon, and out of all of his surviving work, Southwick is probably the closest thing to a twin of Springfield’s. The belfry design on the two churches is nearly identical, and the rest of the steeple design here in Southwick looks like a miniature of the one on Old First Church. Both churches also have a triangular portico supported by four columns, although again Southwick’s is on a smaller scale. Some of Damon’s other churches included the old Northampton church, which burned in 1876, the First Congregational Church in Blandford, and Southwick’s Methodist Episcopal Church, both of which still exist. Southwick’s church was founded in 1773, and the present-day building was built in 1824 to replace the first, which had burned the year before. Nearly two centuries later, it has survived with few alterations, and it doesn’t look much different from its appearance in the early 1890s.