1910s Archives - Page 42 of 57

Saint Paul’s Methodist Church, Ludlow Mass

May 26, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Saint Paul’s Methodist Church, at the corner of Hubbard and Sewall Streets in Ludlow, around 1905-1913. Image courtesy of the Hubbard Memorial Library.

The church in 2015:

Saint Paul’s Methodist Church was built here in 1905, and the first photo shows how it appeared not long after its construction. It was built on land donated by the Ludlow Manufacturing Associates, whose factory was just a few blocks down Sewall Street. In 1917, a parsonage was built to the right of the church, and can be seen in the 2015 view. Despite nearly 110 years in between the two photographs, the church is still easily recognizable. The exterior now has modern siding instead of shingles, so the building did lose some of its Victorian style, but otherwise the building is very well preserved today.

Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance, Hartford, Connecticut

June 5, 2017May 15, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance building at the corner of Main and Pearl Streets in Hartford, around 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same location in 2015:

These two views were taken near the scene on Main Street in this post; the building on the left in the 1905 photo there is the same one featured here. Connecticut Mutual was founded in 1846, and like many other insurance companies it was headquartered in Hartford. The company built this Second Empire style building here in 1872 and expanded it in 1901, but over the years other alterations removed much of its original architectural value. Connecticut Mutual moved out of downtown in 1925, and the building was drastically altered again, becoming the home of Hartford National Bank and Trust. The building remained here until 1964, when it was demolished to build the present skyscraper. As for its original tenant, Connecticut Mutual, they no longer exist either; in 1995 they merged with MassMutual, and most of the company moved to the MassMutual headquarters in Springfield, Mass. Today, these two photographs offer a comparison of architectural styles – the ornate, eclectic Second Empire building of the 1870s in one scene, and the plain concrete and glass 1960s-era Brutalist architecture of the present-day scene.

Willimansett Y, Chicopee Mass

April 26, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The “Y” intersection of Chicopee Street and Meadow Street in the Chicopee village of Willimansett, around 1917. Image courtesy of the Chicopee Public Library, Russ H. Gilbert Photographic Collection.

The “Y” in 2015:

In the early 20th century, the city of Chicopee experienced a large population growth, much of which was made up of Polish and French Canadian immigrants. Each group settled in particular neighborhoods, and Willimansett became home for many French-Canadian immigrants, including my great-great-grandparents, who lived a block away from here in the 1920s. From here, workers could commute a short distance by trolley to either the Holyoke mills across the river, or the mills along the Chicopee River a few miles to the south.

This intersection of Chicopee and Meadow Streets became known as the “Y”, so-named because of the angle at which the streets merge. This is the primary commercial center of Willimansett, but in the early 1900s it was still fairly undeveloped. The commercial blocks on the right weren’t there yet, nor were the houses to the left. The only prominent building that appears in both photos is the Chapin School, which can be seen in the distance in the middle of the fork. It opened in 1898, and had several additions put on as Willimansett grew in population. Today it is vacant, but it is currently planned to be converted into apartments for veterans.

Probably the most interesting thing about the “Y”, however, is something that does not appear in either photo. In the 1930s, a grocery store opened here, called the Y Cash Market. They are no longer in Willimansett, but the name lives on – today the company is Big Y, one of the largest grocery store chains in New England.

Center Street, Chicopee

April 24, 2015April 23, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Center Street in Chicopee, probably in 1918. Image courtesy of the Chicopee Public Library, Russ H. Gilbert Photographic Collection.

Center Street in 2015:

One of the busiest sections of road in Chicopee is completely void of traffic in the 1918 scene, but it wasn’t necessarily because people lacked cars. At this point, cars were becoming more common among the middle class, but this became a problem during World War I. Because of the war demand for fuel, the federal government implemented programs to help reduce fuel use. One of these plans was “gasless Sundays,” when people were encouraged to avoid driving on Sundays, thus saving a substantial amount of gasoline. I don’t know how effective it was overall, but evidently it worked in Chicopee – the first photo was taken during one of these “gasless Sundays,” and sidewalks are full of people, with nary a car in sight.

The only real change in these two views, other than the presence of automobiles, is the building on the far left. This building at the corner of Center and Exchange Streets was replaced by the Starzyk Building in 1921. Otherwise, the other buildings are still there: the Spalding factory in the distance, the 1871 Chicopee City Hall to the right, and the old 1911 Chicopee Public Library building.

Solin’s Market, Chicopee Mass

April 23, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Solin’s Market, at the corner of Center and West Streets in Chicopee around 1919. Image courtesy of the Chicopee Public Library, Russ H. Gilbert Photographic Collection.

The location in 2015:

This grocery store was owned by Michael Solin, and was established in the early 1900s to serve the growing Polish community in Chicopee. I can’t read all of the writing on the windows, but it appears that some of the purchases that could be made here included sugar for 7 cents a pound, butter for 35 cents a pound, eggs for 28 cents a dozen, and milk for 11 cents a quart. “Fresh shoulders” are also apparently available, although no price is given, so perhaps the market price varied from day to day. These seem like great buys, but of course wages were also much lower back in 1919. In 2015 dollars, the sugar would cost $0.95, the butter would be $4.75, the eggs $3.80, and the milk $1.49 (for a quart, so a gallon would be $5.96). All of these are comparable to or higher than prices today, so the deals weren’t as great as they appear at first glance.

But, just as buying milk for 11 cents a quart is a thing of the past, so is the building that once housed Solin’s Market. I don’t know when it was demolished, but the property was probably needed to widen Center Street and make room for the I-391 on-ramp. The street to the right, Abbey Street, is now closed off to traffic from this end, and some of the houses on that street are probably the only things left from the 1919 photo.

Main Arsenal, Springfield Mass

June 17, 2017April 22, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Main Arsenal at the Springfield Armory, seen around 1910-1920. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The Arsenal in 2015:

Springfield had long been a center of production for US military firearms, beginning in 1777, during the American Revolution. The need arose for a suitable location to manufacture and store arms and ammunition, and several sites in New England were considered, including Brookfield Mass. and Hartford. However, in the end General Henry Knox recommended Springfield, and George Washington agreed. Perhaps Knox had recalled passing through Springfield in early 1776 while bringing cannon from Ticonderoga to Boston, but either way he determined that it was the best location.

The location of Springfield was particularly valuable, as it was along several major roads, leading to Boston, Albany, Hartford, and other points south. The Connecticut River and several major tributaries were also an advantage, although unlike at Hartford the river was not navigable by ocean-going vessels at this point. This had been one of the strongest arguments in favor of Hartford, but it was also one of the main weaknesses of the Hartford plan – British ships could easily sail up the river and attack. Springfield’s location, some 20 miles north of the head of navigation, meant that the town was secure from British naval attacks. Another important feature in Springfield is the hill that the Armory is located on. Situated on a broad plateau above the downtown area, the Armory is only three quarters of a mile from the river, but is about 150 feet higher in elevation. In the unlikely event that Springfield was attacked, this would have been an easy position to defend.

However, while the Armory itself dates back to the 1700s, most of the buildings on the site date to the mid 1800s, including the main arsenal seen in these photos. This building was built between 1847 and 1851, and it served as a storehouse for the weapons produced at the Armory. It was built during the Mexican-American War, and it played a vital role in the Civil War just a decade later. Springfield had been one of two federal arsenals prior to the war, with the other being at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Since this facility was lost early in the war, Springfield became the primary manufacturing center for Union firearms. It continued in this role throughout World War I, World War II, and even into the Vietnam War before its closure in 1968. Today, the Armory is National Historic Site, and is also home to Springfield Technical Community College. The arsenal today hasn’t changed much since its completion in 1851, although today it serves as a museum run by the National Park Service.