1880s

North Congregational Church, Springfield, Mass

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North Congregational Church, seen from Mattoon Street in Springfield around 1882. Photo from Springfield Illustrated (1882).

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The church in 2014:

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North Congregational Church wasn’t too old when the first photo was taken – it was completed in 1873, and was one of the first buildings designed by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson.  It’s only a few block away from where his first building, the Church of the Unity, once stood.  Richardson also designed other buildings in Springfield, including the old Union Station on Lyman Street.  Today, aside from North Congregational, the only other surviving Richardson building in the city is the old Hampden County Courthouse.  However, the courthouse has been significantly altered, so North Congregational is his only surviving work in the city that remains relatively intact.

Over the years, the church building changed hands several times, and today it is located at one end of Mattoon Street, which is known for its elegant Victorian row houses on both sides of the street; walking down the street feels more like Beacon Hill than Springfield, and the entire street and the church today are part of the Quadrangle-Mattoon Street Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Main Street from Court Square, Springfield, Mass

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Several buildings along Main Street in Springfield, seen from across the street in Court Square, around 1865-1885. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

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The view from Court Square in 2014:

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These photos were taken from Court Square from about the spot that Parsons Tavern once stood, before it was moved to the location in this post.  The massive elm tree in the first photo once stood right next to the building, and George Washington likely would’ve seen the tree upon his arrival nearly 100 years earlier.  Today, the tree is gone, but the street that it was named after – Elm Street – is still there.

The elm tree isn’t the only thing missing in the 2014 photo – the entire area across Main Street was cleared in the 1970s to build the MassMutual Center, a sports arena and convention center where the Springfield Falcons minor league hockey team plays.  According to the 1899 map of downtown Springfield, there were over 70 buildings within the modern-day footprint of the MassMutual Center, along with two streets, Market Street and Sanford Street.  Sanford Street can be seen in the opening between the buildings behind the elm tree, and once ran from Main Street to Dwight Street.

There are several identifiable businesses in the first photo; the white building on the left-hand side was the home of the First National Bank of Springfield, and just to the right of it is the storefront of Frank G. Tobey.  Tobey’s ad in the 1875 city directory indicates that he was a “Dealer in Hats, Caps, and Gent’s Furnishing Goods. Silk Hats made to order.”  Across Sanford Street, none of the signs on the storefronts are visible, but the buildings on that side appear to date to the early 1800s, with a style similar to the Byers Block on Elm Street just across Main Street, which survives today.

Union Block, Springfield, Mass

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The corner of Main Street & Harrison Ave in Springfield, Mass, around 1878-1885.  Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

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The corner in 2017:

 

This view is very similar to the scene in this post, although the historic photo here is about 30 years older and shows just the buildings along Main Street from Harrison Ave to Court Street. As mentioned in the other post, the building in the foreground here is actually three buildings, which were constructed between 1858 and 1861, and came to be known as the Union Block.  The earliest section, furthest from the camera, is the Republican Block, and it was the home of the Springfield Republican newspaper from 1858 until 1867.  By the time the first photo was taken, it was the home of D.H. Bingham & Co. Clothing House, as seen on the massive sign atop the building.

The Republican Block is the only part of the Union Block that has survived relatively intact to this day.  The middle section, formerly home of Johnson’s Bookstore, is the original 1861 structure, but its facade was completely renovated in 1908 and does not retain any of its original architecture.

Closest to the camera, the northernmost third of the block was home of Kibbe Brothers Co., a large candy manufacturer in the city.  The Union Block was their home throughout the late 1800s, until they moved around the corner to a larger facility on Harrison Ave in 1890, which can be seen in this post.  This part of the Union Block was demolished in 1915, and replaced with the 10 story building that stands there today.

Old City Hall, Springfield, Mass

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The old City Hall building in Springfield, viewed from across Court Square, between 1865 and 1885. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

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The scene in 2014:

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Court Square hasn’t changed much in the past 130-150 years, but the buildings beyond it have.  The first photo shows the old City Hall building, which as mentioned in this post was built in 1855, shortly after Springfield was incorporated as a city, and burned in 1905, allegedly as a result of a monkey overturning a kerosene lamp.  I don’t know the circumstances surrounding a primate having access to open flames in City Hall, but that’s how the story goes.  The present City Hall was completed in 1913, and has managed to survive for over a century without any problems from arsonist apes.

Springfield Five Cents Savings Bank, Springfield, Mass

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The view looking from Court Square toward the corner of Main and Court Streets, around 1878-1885. Photo courtesy of New York Public Library.

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The scene in 2014:

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The ornate building in the center of the first photo is the Springfield Five Cents Savings Bank, which was built in 1876 at the corner of Main and Court Streets, diagonally across from Court Square.  The building is still there, although the Main Street facade was completely renovated at some point in the past 50 years or so.  However, the Court Street (today Falcons Way) facade is still largely intact, and reveals the fact that this building is not just another nondescript mid-20th century commercial building in the city.

Next to the Five Cents Savings Bank building in the first photo is the 1878 Republican Block, which was the home of the Springfield Republican newspaper.  I don’t know what happened to the building, but it apparently isn’t there anymore, unless it was renovated even more than its neighbor was.

Corner of Main & Hillman Streets, Springfield, Mass

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The southeast corner of Main and Hillman Streets in Springfield, around the 1870s or 1880s. Photo courtesy of the New York Public Library.

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The scene in 2014:

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Nothing from the first photo still exists today; even the street network has changed.  The corner of Main and Hillman technically doesn’t exist anymore – Hillman Street now ends a block away from Main Street, and the rest is now a pedestrian walkway along one side of Center Square.  Further down the street, the church building is on the site of what is now the corner of Main and Harrison – this intersection was moved so that Harrison and present-day Boland Way were directly across from each other on Main Street.

There are a few notable buildings visible in the first photo, including the Third National Bank Building in the foreground.  This ornate building was the home of the bank, but the upper floors were the Evans House hotel, which was described in the 1884 King’s Handbook of Springfield as “the leading family hotel” and a “convenient, pleasant, and home-like hotel.” Today, neither the hotel, nor the bank, nor the building itself still exist, although the site is still used for banking, with TD Bank now occupying the site.

Further down the street in the first photo is First Baptist Church.  The congregation was established in 1811, and met in several different locations around the city before moving to the Main Street site and constructing the church building in 1847.  However, as the downtown area became more developed, property along Main Street became valuable commercial space, and in 1888 the church was sold and replaced by a commercial building, which can be seen in the center of this post, taken facing the opposite direction.