Street Scenes

Corner of State & Dwight Streets, Springfield Mass

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The view looking at the northeast corner of Dwight Street and State Street, sometime in the 1870s.  Photo from Springfield: Present and Prospective, published in 1905.

The same scene in 2014:

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The church on State Street in the first photo is the old Episcopalian Christ Church, which was built in 1839. When the congregation outgrew the building, the present-day church was constructed just up the hill (visible just to the right of the old church in the distance). I don’t know when the old church was demolished, but the location is now home to Springfield’s tallest apartment building.

State Street from Elliot Street, Springfield Mass

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The view looking east on State Street from near the intersection of State & Elliot, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The view in 2015:

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As with the previous post, State Street in Springfield looks very different before and after Dutch Elm Disease.  However, far more has changed than just that.  This stretch of State Street, leading up the hill to the Armory, was once predominantly residential, mostly single-family homes.  Some of these historic homes are still here, and for the most part have been converted to commercial use.

The present-day photo actually appears to be a few steps ahead of where the 1908 photo was taken; the pillars on the extreme left-hand side of the 1908 photo appear to be those of the rectory of St. Michael’s Cathedral, which is directly across Elliot Street from the courthouse.  Barely visible through the trees in the left-center of the photo appears to be the Alexander House, which was built in 1811.  It is one of Springfield’s oldest existing buildings, although the construction of the federal courthouse, which now occupies the space along State Street between Elliot and Spring Streets, required it to be moved around the corner to a new location on Elliot.  However, the architect of the courthouse designed the building around the two massive trees that once stood next to the Alexander House, and one of the trees is visible on the left-hand side of the 2015 photo.  The trees are almost certainly there in the 1908 photo as well, but it’s hard to pick them out among all of the other foliage.  One other landmark that exists in both photos is the entrance to the Armory grounds at Byers Street; the gates are barely visible in the distance on the left-hand side of State Street.

State Street from Walnut Street, Springfield Mass

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The view looking east on State Street from the corner of State & Walnut, between 1900 and 1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The same view in 2014:

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This was once a common scene in the towns and cities of New England: streets lined with stately elms that formed almost a tunnel over the road with their branches.  However, within a few decades of the first photo being taken, most of the large elms in the northeast, and eventually the entire country, were wiped out by Dutch Elm Disease.  Today, flora aside, a trip down State Street is very different from a century ago; instead of single-family homes, the road is fronted primarily by apartment buildings and commercial developments, although the buildings on the far left that once made up part of the Springfield Armory are still there.

Hilltop Park, New York (1)

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The view outside the main entrance to Hilltop Park, at the corner of Broadway and 165th Street, on April 21, 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Bain Collection.

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The same scene in 2014:

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The New York Yankees have long called the Bronx their home, but during the first park of their existence they were in the extreme northern part of Manhattan.  The team was moved from Baltimore to New York in 1903, and Hilltop Park (officially given the more bland name of American League Park – this was in the days before corporate sponsorship) was hastily built along Broadway, between 165th and 168th Streets, on high ground overlooking the Hudson River.  It was not a particularly glamorous park, but neither was the team that played there: in ten seasons, the Highlanders lost 100 games twice.  These have been the only two 100-loss seasons in the history of the Yankees franchise.  In this particular photo, it shows fans arriving for the home opener against the Washington Senators.  New York lost the game 1-0, and went on to have a .500 season, with a 76-76 record.  After the 1912 season, the Highlanders moved into Polo Grounds, renting from the Giants until 1923, when Yankee Stadium was completed.  Today, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center is located on the site.

Mulberry Bend, New York City

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Mulberry Bend, around 1896. Photo from Out of Mulberry Street: Stories of Tenement Life in New York City by Jacob Riis.

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The same view in 2014:

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Throughout much of the 19th century, the Five Points neighborhood of Manhattan was one of the worst slums in the United States.  At the heart of it was Mulberry Bend, named after the curve in Mulberry Street which is visible in the two photos.  In part because of the work of social reformers like Jacob Riis, efforts began at the end of the century to clear out the worst of the slums and tenements.  Shortly after the first photo was taken, the tenements on the left were demolished, and replaced by Columbus Park.  Several of the buildings on the left survive, though, and are now a part of Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood.

This photo was taken just south of the intersection of Mulberry and modern-day Mosco Streets, just north of where this photo was taken a few years later.  If the photographer in that photo had turned left, this is approximately the view that he would have looking up Mulberry.

Times Square (3)

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A view of Times Square around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

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The same scene in 2014:

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One more view of Times Square; the 1905 photo shows the Hotel Astor, which was opened in 1904 and lasted until 1967, when it was replaced by the building on the right, the one prominently advertising The Lion King.