1900s

Hotel Worthy, Springfield

by

The Hotel Worthy, at the corner of Main and Worthington in Springfield, around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Hotels

The building in 2017:

 

Unlike many of the other views of downtown Springfield from the turn of the last century, almost nothing has changed in this scene.  Taken from the corner of Main and Worthington, with Worthington to the left and Main to the right, most of the buildings in this photo have survived.  The only exception is the building to the immediate right of the Hotel Worthy, which is now a public square.  The historic hotel itself is now an apartment building, and the buildings beyond it to the left down Worthington Street now house a variety of bars and restaurants.  One of these, Smith’s Billiards, has actually been open since before the 1908 photo was taken, and it is supposedly the oldest pool hall in the United States.

Main Street Springfield (2)

by

Main Street in Springfield, looking south from the corner of Main and Worthington, in about 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

025_1908c-2Bloc

The same view in 2017:

 

Much has changed about this scene in the ensuing 100+ years, but two prominent landmarks remain, the Fuller Block, sans roof ornaments, and the Hotel Worthy on the far left.  The building between the two, along with most of the other buildings on the left-hand side of Main Street, is gone, as are the trolleys that were once ubiquitous throughout downtown Springfield.

Main Street, Springfield

by

Main Street in Springfield, looking north between Harrison Avenue and Bridge Street, as it appeared around 1905. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

1900s

The same view in 2015:

024_2015

Not much is left from the 1905 view, but the building with the large onion-like decorations at the top is still there.  The roof ornaments are long gone, but the building itself, the 1887 Fuller Block, is the only easily recognizable structure from this scene that has survived.  The building on the far right of the 1905 photo is now the site of Center Square, and the left-hand side is now the parking garage for the Marriott.  Further down on the left, the nondescript former federal building replaced the building in the 1905 photo.

United First Parish Church, Quincy

by

The United First Parish Church of Quincy, as seen in 1904. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Quincy

The same scene, in March of 2013:

023_2013

This church in Quincy was built in 1828, financed largely though former president John Adams. He and his wife, along with John Quincy Adams and his wife, are interred in the family crypt under the church – it is one of only two churches in the US that contains a presidential tomb. As seen in the two photos, not much has changed in the past 109 years with the building itself.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston

by

The view of the Original Mother Church of the Christian Science Church, as seen in 1900. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

020_1900c-2Bloc

The same view in 2010:

020_2010

Shortly after the 1900 photo was taken, starting in 1904, the much larger, domed Mother Church Extension was built directly behind the original stone church from 1894.  Together, along with several other buildings in the campus, it forms the headquarters of the Christian Science Church.

Old North Church, Boston

by

The view of Old North Church, looking down Hull Street, sometime in the 1890s. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

018_1890-1899-2Bloc

About decade later, around 1909. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

 

Old North Church in 2018:

From 1909 to 2018, not a whole lot has changed here, aside from the addition of parked cars in the 2018 photo, the only differences for the most part are minor cosmetic changes.  However, from 1898 to 1909, the scene looks very different – most of Hull Street was still dominated by small wood-framed buildings, some of which dated back to the mid 18th century.  The closest wood building on the right-hand side of the street is the Galloupe House, which purportedly was used as General Thomas Gage’s headquarters during the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The centerpiece of all three of the photos, however, is Old North Church, which looks almost unchanged.  In fact, though, the entire spire above the brick section is fairly new.  Although the church was built in 1723, making it the oldest church building in Boston, the spire was destroyed in a storm in 1804.  It was replaced with the one seen in the 1909 photo, which was destroyed by Hurricane Carol in 1954.  Despite that, the church still looks very much as it did on the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five.