1910s Archives - Page 44 of 58

Old Methodist Meeting House, Wilbraham Mass

April 11, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Old Methodist Meeting House at the corner of Main Street and Mountain Road in Wilbraham, probably around 1913. Photo from The History of Wilbraham, Massachusetts (1913).

The building in 2015:

The old Methodist meeting house in Wilbraham hasn’t been used as a church for over 180 years, but some of its defining architectural features are still visible, including the long windows on the Main Street side of first floor. It was built in 1793, as the first home of Wilbraham’s Methodist congregation. It was used for 40 years, before being sold and renovated into a house. As built, the church only had one floor, with windows that extended all the way up the side of the building. When it was converted to a house, the second floor was added, and the windows were split, although the pattern is still noticeable here.

At the time that the church was built, Methodism was still in its infancy in New England. Several important figures in Methodist history visited this church in the late 1700s and early 1800s, including Francis Asbury, who was one of the first bishops appointed by founder John Wesley, and Jesse Lee, who later became Chaplain of the US House of Representatives from 1809 to 1814, and Chaplain of the US Senate from 1814-1815. During the first years of this church, the interior was rather spartan; the pews were just wooden benches, and a stove was not installed until 1815, after some 22 cold New England winters without any heat. Something as novel as an organ would take even longer; the congregation didn’t purchase one until 1850, long after they had moved to a newer church building.

The Methodists built a new church across Mountain Road in 1833, and this was in turn replaced in 1870 by the stone church visible behind and to the left of the church in this photo. Today, the building is one of the oldest existing church buildings in Western Massachusetts, and according to the 1963 History of Wilbraham book, it is the oldest existing Methodist church in New England. Today, it is maintained as a museum by the Wilbraham Atheneum Society.

Soldiers’ Monument, Wilbraham Mass

April 10, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The Soldiers’ Monument in Wilbraham, on Main Street opposite Springfield Street, in an undated photograph probably taken in the early 20th century. Photo courtesy of the Wilbraham Public Library.

The monument in 2015:

As mentioned in this post, the Soldiers’ Monument in Wilbraham was dedicated in 1894, in honor of the 228 men from Wilbraham who served in the Civil War. According to the inscription on the monument, it is dedicated “To the men of Wilbraham who served their country in the war which preserved the Union and destroyed slavery. This monument is erected to perpetuate the memory of their patriotic service.” According to the records in the town clerk’s office, 29 Wilbraham men died in the war. However, of those 29, only six were killed on the battlefield, a statistic that is not at all unusual for the Civil War, given that around two thirds of all deaths were a result of disease rather than battle. One particularly notable Wilbraham veteran was Watson W. Bridge, who was the captain of Company F in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, an African-American unit that was depicted in the 1989 film Glory.

The monument was built on the site of the birthplace of Lucinda Brewer, the wife of paper manufacturer Zenas Crane, founder of Crane & Co. in Dalton, Massachusetts. Their grandson, Winthrop M. Crane, attended the dedication ceremony in 1894. Several decades earlier, he had secured a contract to produce the paper for US currency, something that the company continues to do today. He would later go on to serve as Governor from 1900 to 1903, and represented Massachusetts in the US Senate from 1904 to 1913.

In the years since the first photo was taken, the land behind the monument has been developed, as seen in the 2015 view. To the left is the former Wilbraham Post Office building, and directly behind the monument is the Wilbraham Public Library. To the right, just outside of the view of the photo, is a commercial development.

Hanging Around the Saloon, Chicopee Mass

August 23, 2017March 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

A group of workers hanging around outside of the Cyran & Gierlasinski Cafe on Grove Street in Chicopee, on June 29, 1916. Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.

The scene in 2014:

Social reformer and photographer Lewis Wickes Hine visited Chicopee several times in the 1910s, documenting child labor conditions in some of the city’s factories. The first photo here shows a group of workers hanging around a saloon at the end of the workday. It’s probably safe to assume that the cafe was Polish; the names of Cyran & Gierlasinski leave little room for doubt. By the late 1800s, Chicopee had become an industrial center, and many of the workers were immigrants, either French-Canadian or Polish. To this day, many Chicopee residents are of French-Canadian and Polish ancestry, some of whom are probably the descendants of the men in the 1916 photo. Today, the Cyran & Gierlasinski Cafe might be gone, but the Polish influence is still present; the site is now the parking lot for the main offices of the Polish National Credit Union.

Interior of Old First Church, Springfield, Mass

January 23, 2016January 30, 2015 by Derek Strahan

The interior of Old First Church in Springfield, around 1915. Photo from The First Church, Springfield, 1637-1915; Milestones Through Twenty-Seven Decades (1915).

The church in 2015:

Old First Church was featured in the first post on this blog, and it is probably my favorite historic building in Springfield. It is also the oldest church building in the city, having been completed in 1819, and it is one of the oldest buildings of any type in Springfield. Although the exterior of the church hasn’t changed much in the past 195 years, the interior has gone through some changes, as the two photographs show.

As built, the church had different pews, which had tall backs and were not particularly comfortable. These were replaced with the current pews in 1864. Also at this time, the high pulpit was replaced with a platform, and the arch was constructed over it. The first organ was installed in 1849, but it was on the balcony in the back of the sanctuary; it wasn’t until 1881 that the organ was moved to the front, and the current organ has been there since 1958. Since the 1915 photo was taken, most of the major changes to the interior came in 1924, when it was renovated to early 19th century designs. This included modifying the arch over the organ and adding the two columns, changing the curve of the ceiling, and adding decorative scrollwork to the ceiling.

The church was dedicated in a special ceremony on August 19, 1819, with Reverend Samuel Osgood preaching on the occasion. Osgood had been the pastor of the church since 1809, and would continue in that capacity until 1854. During the ceremony, Colonel Solomon Warriner led the performance of four songs. Warriner was the director of music for the First Church from 1801 to 1838, and served as a colonel in the Massachusetts Militia during the War of 1812.

In the years that followed, the sanctuary at Old First Church has hosted a number of notable guests, including Secretary of State and Senator Daniel Webster, abolitionist John Brown, singer Jenny Lind, and evangelist D.L. Moody. I don’t know if any living presidents have ever visited the church, but in 1848, the body of John Quincy Adams lay in state in the center aisle when his body was being brought back from Washington, D.C. to Quincy. Far more recently, several other notable politicians have spoken at Old First Church, including former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and former Mayor of Boston and Ambassador Ray Flynn.

The church congregation disbanded in 2007, after 370 years of existence, as a result of declining membership and the increasing costs of upkeep. The City of Springfield purchased the building and uses it for various functions. It is, however, still used as a church – WellSpring Church leases the building from the city for Sunday services and church offices.

Kibbe Brothers Candy, Springfield, Mass

January 23, 2016January 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Kibbe Brothers candy factory on Harrison Avenue in Springfield, in October 1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, National Child Labor Committee Collection.

The scene in 2014:

I have previously featured a number of photos from Lewis Wickes Hine of the National Child Labor Committee, when he traveled around the country documenting child labor conditions in the early 1900s. His work includes several Springfield companies, one of which was Kibbe Brothers Company, a candy company that had been in Springfield since 1843.

For many years, the company operated out of a building at the corner of Main and Harrison, but in 1890 they moved about a half a block down Harrison Ave, where this 1910 photo was taken. This photo is rare among Hine’s photos in that it doesn’t feature any photos, but it does show the “Girls Wanted” and “Boys Wanted” signs in the window next to the main entrance. Based on the other photos that Hine took of the factory workers, many of them were 14 to 15 years old, which was apparently the minimum working age at the time. In some of the captions, he mentions that they made between $3.50 and $4.00 per week, which in 2014 dollars would be about $86 a week.

According to Springfield Present and Prospective (1905), the factory employed about 350 people and produced over 12 tons of candy each day, which was shipped as far as California. However, the company was out of business by the mid-1930s, probably a victim of the Great Depression. Today, part of the lot is occupied by the headquarters of Hampden Bank, and the rest of it is a parking lot and parking garage.

Main Street, Springfield, Mass

January 23, 2016January 27, 2015 by Derek Strahan

Looking north on Main Street in Springfield, toward Harrison Avenue, around 1910-1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same location in 2014:

These photos were taken facing the opposite direction of the ones in this post and this post, with the Haynes Hotel building on the far left and the Johnson’s Bookstore building on the far right. These are the only two surviving buildings in the photo for several blocks down Main Street; everything on the right-hand side from Johnson’s Bookstore to the Fuller Block (the building in the distance with the onion dome in the first photo) at the corner of Bridge Street has been demolished.

Notice all of the trolleys in the first photo – and the pedestrians who seem to have no problem crossing right in front of them. Today, there are no trolleys, far fewer pedestrians, and far more cars on this stretch of Main Street.