1890s Archives - Page 47 of 66

Railroad Station, Monson, Mass

January 12, 2016 by Derek Strahan

The railroad station on Washington Street in Monson, probably in the 1890s. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

The site of the station in 2015:

Railroads first came to Monson in 1839, when the Western Railroad opened between Springfield and Worcester. It cut across the extreme northwestern corner of the town, though, and the nearest station was in Palmer, about four miles from Monson’s town center. It would be another 11 years before rail service came to the center of Monson, with the completion of the New London, Willimantic, and Palmer Railroad. It was renamed the New London Northern Railroad in 1861, and was leased to the Central Vermont Railroad in 1871. The frequent name changes actually help to date the first photo; one of the cars had the abbreviation “C.V.R.R.” on the back, which indicates it was probably taken before (or very soon after) the company was renamed the Central Vermont Railway in 1899.

Over time, the Central Vermont operated four stations in Monson, but the main station was here on Washington Street, just a little north of the town center. A 1934 timetable shows two scheduled passenger trains in each direction that stopped here daily; the two northbound trains left at 8:14 in the morning and 4:36 in the afternoon, and the southbound trains at 10:00 in the morning and 6:10 in the evening. From here, town residents could travel on the line north to the Canadian border in Vermont, or south to New London in Connecticut, where they could connect with trains to New York City and points south. They could also travel six minutes north to Palmer and take a Boston & Albany train east to Boston or west to upstate New York and beyond.

Passenger rail travel entered a steady decline after World War II, though, and by the 1950s railroads such as the Central Vermont were eliminating passenger service to small towns like Monson. The station was demolished in 1960, and today the site is vacant, although the old granite foundations of the station are still there. Passenger trains did briefly return to this line from 1989 to 1995, when Amtrak ran their Montrealer train through here, but it did not make any stops in Monson. Since 1995, the old Central Vermont has been operated by the New England Central Railroad, which runs several freight trains per day through Monson.

Main Street, Monson, Mass

January 8, 2016 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on Main Street from near State Street in Monson, around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

Main Street in 2015:

This section of Main Street was once known as “Millionaires’ Mile,” and it featured a number of elegant 19th century homes that were owned by prominent factory owners and other businessmen in Monson. In previous posts I highlighted two neighboring homes that belonged to the Norcross family and Cushman family, and this photo was taken just north of them, in front of Cushman Hall.

Many of the homes from the first photo are still standing today, despite over a century of change and a devastating tornado that passed directly through this scene in 2011. The trees hide some of the houses in the first photo, but nearly all of them from the foreground to the crest of the hill are nearly identical Greek Revival homes that date back to around the 1840s. This style was particularly popular in industrialized New England cities like Hartford, New Haven, and New Bedford, but it can also be seen here in Monson, where similar industrial growth was occurring on a smaller scale.

The two houses on the far left, which are painted white and yellow in the 2015 photo, are essentially identical, and they were both built in 1842. The one on the left was the home of Rufus and Sarah Fay, and the yellow one to the right was the home of Charles and Mary Ann Merrick. Aside from being family, though, the two men were also business partners; they owned a straw hat factory across the street, where the Monson Town Offices are today. Together they, and later their children, ran Merrick & Fay for over 50 years, and the company was a major employer in the town. Their sons sold the company in 1891, and the factory burned down in 1912, but their twin houses are still standing on Main Street.

Other wealthy 19th century residents of this section of Main Street included Edward Cushman, who lived in the house on the far right. He left it to the town in his will, and today it is the Monson Senior Center. Further up the hill, the Victorian mansion just to the left of center was the home of Cyrus W. Holmes, a factory owner who lived in the Victorian mansion seen on the hill just to the left of center.

In more than 100 years since the first photo was taken, Main Street has seen many changes. A trolley line was added and later removed, the road was paved, automobiles replaced both the horse-drawn carriages and the trolleys, and the 1938 hurricane destroyed most of the elms that once lined both sides of the street. The street is no longer filled with millionaire businessmen either, but their former homes help contribute to the character of downtown Monson and serve as a reminder of the town’s industrial history.

Post Office, Monson, Mass

February 11, 2016December 21, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The post office at the corner of Main and State Streets in Monson, around 1893. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

The scene in 2015:

The building in the first photo was built in 1855 for the recently-established Monson National Bank. In 1872, Monson Savings Bank was also created, and the two companies shared the same counter, tellers, and vault within this small building until 1893, when a larger one was completed just a short walk down Main Street from here. That same year, the nearby Central Block, which housed the post office, was destroyed in a fire, so the post office was moved to the recently-vacated bank building. It later moved back to the Central Block location when a new building was completed on the site.

I don’t know exactly when it was demolished, but it would have been sometime before 1925, when the original Monson High School was built here. The school building was converted into the town offices in the early 1990s, but it sustained heavy damage in the une 1, 2011 tornado, and it was demolished in 2013. A new town office building, seen to the right in the 015 photo, was completed earlier in the year.

Monson Savings Bank, Monson, Mass

December 18, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Monson Savings Bank on Main Street, around 1893-1910. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

The building in 2015:

Monson’s first bank was Monson National Bank, which opened in 1854. It was a commercial bank, so it primarily served the business community in town, rather than on individual checking and savings accounts. So, in 1872, Monson Savings Bank was established, which enabled middle class workers in town to open savings accounts. The two banks were officially separate, but they shared the same building, and the same vault, counter, tellers.

This arrangement continued until 1893, when this building was completed. Although still located in the same building, they were separated, with Monson National on the left and Monson Savings on the right. Monson National merged with the Springfield Safe Deposit and Trust Company, which in turn merged with Shawmut Bank. Shawmut continued to operate a branch in this building until the 1960s, when Monson Savings Bank acquired the entire building.

Over 120 years after this building was completed, Monson Savings Bank is still here, although the building itself has undergone dramatic changes. The two upper floors were removed at some point, and in the 1960s the front facade was completely rebuilt. Another renovation in 1985 added office space in the back and a drive-up teller window to the left, so today the only surviving parts of the original exterior are the walls on the left and right.

North Wilbraham Station, Wilbraham, Mass

December 12, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The North Wilbraham Station on the Boston & Albany Railroad, around 1890. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The scene in 2015:

Although Wilbraham is a fairly small town, it lies on one of the primary east-west transportation corridors in New England. In the 1630s, the Bay Path crossed what would later become the northern edge of the town, connecting Boston and Springfield. Later, this route was incorporated into one of three branches of the Boston Post Road between Boston and New York. So, when railroads were beginning to be developed in the 1830s, this same route along the Connecticut River was a logical choice for a railroad line. Heading west from Boston, railroads reached Worcester in 1835, and four years later the Western Railroad was completed, connecting Worcester to Springfield. These companies would later be consolidated into the Boston & Albany Railroad.

One of the original stations on the Western Railroad was here in Wilbraham, although it was located almost three miles west of here, at the present-day Stony Hill Road underpass. In 1851, though, this station was moved about a mile west into Springfield, to Oak Street in Indian Orchard. A new Wilbraham station here at North Wilbraham was established around the same time, and the station seen in the 1890 photo was built in 1872. By the time the first photo was taken, there were four to five scheduled trains in each direction that stopped in North Wilbraham. As the sign indicates in the photo, it was the station for Wesleyan Academy, which was later renamed Wilbraham Academy and is now Wilbraham-Monson Academy. From here, travelers would board a stagecoach for the remaining two miles to the academy.

However, with the decline of passenger rail in the mid-1900s, train stops in Wilbraham were gradually reduced until 1957, when the station was closed. It was demolished the following year, and today no trace remains of it or any of the associated buildings. The old Boston & Albany line is now owned by CSX, and as seen in the 2015 photo it has been reduced from two tracks to one between Springfield and Palmer. The only passenger train that still operates through here is Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited, which runs daily from Boston to Chicago without stopping in Wilbraham.

Collins Inn Livery Stable, Wilbraham, Mass

December 10, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The livery stable at the Collins Inn on Boston Road in North Wilbraham, around 1895. Image courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The scene in 2015:

This is the same building seen in the previous post, just from a different angle and several years later. Although the photo is undated, there is at least one clue that gives a good indication of when it was taken. Just below the large “Livery” sign, there are posters for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, which was performing in Springfield on “Thursday, May 23.” There appears to have been a performance in Springfield on that day in 1895, and it was a Thursday, so the photo was probably taken around that time.

In the days before automobiles, livery stables such as these would have provided stabling and feed for horses, and the carriages out front show a variety of horse-drawn carriages that would have been used at the time. One of the carriages has two young children sitting in it, so perhaps the man posing with the horse is about to hitch it to that carriage. He is presumably an employee of the stables, which was operated as part of the Collins Inn next to it.

At the time that the first photo was taken, cars were just starting to be developed, but within about 20 years they would essentially replace horses, putting livery stables like these out of business. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Collins Inn closed in 1915. I don’t know when the stables were demolished, but it seems fitting that the modern equivalent, a gas and repair station, now stands on the site.