1900s

Solomon F. Cushman, Jr. House, Monson, Mass

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The home of Solomon F. Cushman, Jr., on Main Street in Monson, probably around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The site of the house in 2015:

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This Greek Revival style house was once the home of Solomon Cushman, Jr., the son of one of Monson’s prominent industrial leaders of the 19th century. His father, Solomon Cushman, Sr., was born in 1826 in Monson, Maine, a small town in central Maine.  After working in farms and lumberyards near his hometown, he became a store clerk, and later moved to Palmer, and then to Monson, Massachusetts, where he became a bookkeeper for the Monson Woolen Manufacturing Company, a textile company with a factory on present-day Cushman Street.

Cushman eventually became the owner of the company, and renamed it S. F. Cushman & Sons in 1877.  The Cushmans grew the company, purchasing a branch factory in 1883 at the corner of Maple and Elm Streets, and rebuilding the main factory on Cushman Street after a fire in 1886.  Solomon, Jr. was born in 1861, and he graduated from Monson Academy in 1880 and from MIT in 1882.  He also attended the Lowell School of Design, and later returned to Monson, where he was put in charge of the branch mill.  When the elder Cushman died in 1900, his five sons took over the company, but they soon began selling it.  The branch mill was sold in 1901, and the main factory operated under the Cushman name until 1912, when it was sold to a hat company.  The building has since been abandoned for many years, but it is still standing on Cushman Street over 125 years after the Cushmans opened it.

The house in the first photo was purchased by Solomon, Jr. sometime between about 1884 and 1894, but the house was much older than that.  Architecturally, it is very similar to the nearby Joel Norcross House, which was built in 1830 and is still standing today.  This house was probably built around the same time, and according to the 1857 county atlas, it was owned by Horatio Lyon, one of the owners of the Monson Woolen Manufacturing Company who first employed Cushman, Sr.  It was later the home of yet another factory owner, Cyrus W. Holmes, who lived here until his much more elegant Holmbrook mansion was completed just up the hill from here around 1870.

Several of the Cushman brothers lived nearby, including the oldest sibling, Edward, whose house on Main Street is now the Monson Senior Center.  I don’t know how long Solomon, Jr. lived here in this house, but he died in 1932 at the age of 70, and the house was subsequently demolished in 1957.  Today, the former Cushman property is a shopping plaza with the Adams supermarket, a Rite Aid drugstore, and several smaller businesses.

Cushman Hall, Monson, Mass

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Cushman Hall on Main Street in Monson, around 1904-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The building in 2015:

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This former dormitory is the last surviving purpose-built structure from the old Monson Academy, which operated here in Monson from 1804 until it merged with Wilbraham Academy in 1971 and moved to their campus.  Its construction in 1904 was funded by Thaddeus L. Cushman, and it was named in honor of his nephew, Frank Chapin Cushman, who died the year before at the age of 16.

After the school merger, the former dormitory became an apartment building, and it remains in use today.  The 2011 tornado destroyed two of the last three surviving academy buildings, and directly across the street from Cushman Hall the Town Hall/former Monson High School building was damaged beyond repair.  However, Cushman Hall sustained minimal damage, and today it is still an excellent reminder of the town’s educational history.

Holmbrook, Monson, Mass

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The Holmbrook mansion on Main Street in Monson, probably around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The house in 2015:

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The restored house in 2018:

This beautiful Second Empire style mansion was built around 1870 for local factory owner Cyrus W. Holmes.  He named it Holmbrook, and he lived here until his death in 1891 at the age of 89.  Curiously, his son died only six days later, and the house eventually came into the ownership of Adelaide Wingate, who donated the house to Monson Academy in 1947 to use as a dormitory.  The school built tennis courts and a ski slope in the backyard, but in 1971 Monson Academy merged with Wilbraham Academy and moved to their Wilbraham campus.

The house was damaged by the June 1, 2011 tornado, which destroyed two former Monson Academy buildings across the street from here.  When the second photo was taken, the house was still undergoing repairs more than four years later.  A 1988 Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System report described it as “undoubtedly Monson’s best example of the Second Empire style,” and even after the tornado it still retains much of its original Victorian detail, and it will hopefully soon be fully restored.

2018 update: The exterior of the house has since been restored, and I have added an updated photo to reflect these changes.

First Church, Monson, Mass

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The First Church of Monson, probably around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The church on June 3, 2011, two days after it was damaged in a tornado:

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The church in 2015:

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This view is similar to the one in this post, which shows the church from just a slightly different angle.  As mentioned in that post, the church was completed in 1873, and has been a major Monson landmark ever since. The steeple, though, has been replaced twice. The original one, seen in the first photo, was destroyed above the belfry in the 1938 hurricane.  It was reconstructed similar to the original design, but over 70 years later, the June 1, 2011 tornado completely destroyed the entire steeple, as seen in the second photo, which was taken two days later.  In the distance, the remains of the steeple lay in a pile of rubble in front of the church.  The old bell, which had been installed around 1881, was also cracked and had to be replaced.  The steeple was rebuilt in 2013, using stronger building materials of concrete, steel, and fiberglass. Other than the new materials, though, it is identical to the 1939 reconstruction.

Ely Road, Monson, Mass

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Looking up the hill on Ely Road toward the Keep Homestead, sometime around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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Ely Road in 2015:

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Ely Road is named for Alfred Ely, who lived on the street and served for 60 years as the pastor of the First Church of Monson.  The church is located at the bottom of Ely Road about a quarter mile from here, and from 1809 until 1843 Ely lived at the house at the top of the hill.  The house was built around 1800, and in 1854 it was purchased by Marcus Colton, who conveyed it to his nephew Edward Keep two years later.  From then it would remain in the Keep family for the next 132 years, until the death of Edward Keep’s granddaughter, Myra Keep Lovell Moulton, in 1988.

Upon her death, Myra willed the house to the town, to be used as the Keep Homestead Museum.  The house is hidden from view by the trees in the 2015 photo, but it is still there, and it is open to the public once a month from April to December.  Its collections include Myra’s extensive button collection, along with other antique furnishings, documents, and other items relating to the history of Monson.

Methodist Church, Monson, Mass (2)

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Another view of the Methodist Church on Main Street in Monson, around 1900-1920. Image courtesy of the Monson Free Library.

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The church in 2015:

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As explained in the previous post, this church at the corner of Main and Cushman Streets was built in 1850, and it is the oldest of Monson’s four church buildings.  The only major change in the church’s appearance between the two photos is the steeple.  The top of the steeple above the belfry was removed in 1952 because of damage caused by the 1938 hurricane, and it was replaced in 2010.  Aside from that, though, the rest of the historic church is essentially unchanged, and it is an excellent example of mid 19th century New England church architecture.