1910s Archives - Page 51 of 58

Boylston Street, Boston

November 26, 2016August 10, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Looking west on Boylston Street toward Arlington Street, between 1910 and 1914. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Boylston Street in 2014:

The buildings on the left are a little taller, but otherwise not a great deal has changed in this scene. The Boston Public Garden to the right is still there, and Arlington Street Church, although hidden by the trees in 2014, is still there. Notice, however, the trolleys in the background. At the time, trolleys running on the present-day Green Line would travel along Boylston until Arlington, and then descend into the subway in the Public Garden. From here, they would travel under Boylston and Tremont Streets, and eventually emerge from the subway near North Station. This was the first subway tunnel in North America, and was opened in 1897. However, the presence of the trolleys gives an upper limit to the date of this photo; in 1914, the subway tunnel under Boylston Street was extended to Kenmore Square. A new incline was built here, in the center of Boylston Street, to serve what is now the “E” Branch of the Green Line; this branch was not put underground until 1941, at which point the Public Garden incline was permanently closed.

Temple Place from Tremont Street, Boston

November 26, 2016August 10, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Looking up Temple Place from Tremont Street, facing away from Boston Common. Photo taken between 1910 and 1916, courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2014:

This area was a major shopping center around the turn of the last century, and it still is today. Temple Place doesn’t look all that different, with many of the same buildings still there. However, the street has since been truncated at Washington Street (the next block down), with Macy’s and other retail stores occupying the area where the street (actually called Avon Street on the other side of Washington) used to be. The building on the far left, the R.H. Stearns Building, is essentially unchanged, although it has different tenants now. The R.H. Stearns department store occupied the building from its completion in 1908 until 1977, when the company closed.

Milk Street, Boston

November 26, 2016August 10, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Looking down Milk Street, just past Old South Meeting House, around 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same street in 2014:

The Library of Congress estimates that the first photo was taken between 1910 and 1920, but the license plate on the car appears to be dated 1911, which would, assuming the driver’s registration was current, place the photo around that time. It captures a scene, frozen in time, not long before some major world events began to happen. At the time, the Titanic was still under construction, the czar still ruled in Russia (for the next few years), and World War I was just a couple years away. Automobiles such as the one in the photo were still a fairly new concept, and although none are seen in the photo, horse-drawn carriages were still a common sight around Boston.

The world has dramatically changed since the first photo was taken, but the street scene here isn’t completely altered – several buildings are still there, including the one on the far left, and the one just over a block down the street on the right. Based on their architectural styles, they were probably brand-new in 1911, but today they don’t look all that different from the outside.

Feeding Pigeons at Park Street Station, Boston

November 25, 2016July 31, 2014 by Derek Strahan

A woman feeding pigeons along the Boston Common next to Park Street station, sometime between 1900 and 1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same scene in 2014:

The first photo was probably taken not long after Boston built its subway network, and the Park Street station was where it all began. As mentioned in these posts (Post 1 and Post 2) of the interior of the station, Park Street and Boylston were the first two subway stations in North America, and today Park Street is still a major hub on the “T”, where passengers can transfer between the Red and Green lines. It is also near the start of the Freedom Trail and the Massachusetts State House, so it is frequented by tourists as well.

I don’t know who the woman in the picture was, but it is safe to say that everyone in the photo has probably been dead for over 30 years. And, unlike the people in the two photos, the pigeons that still inhabit Boston Common are still dressed pretty much the same way.

Theodore Roosevelt in Boston

November 25, 2016July 30, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Former President Theodore Roosevelt leaves a house on Beacon Street in Boston, in 1916. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

The same house in 2014:

As mentioned in this post, Beacon Hill has long been the home of some of Boston’s most prominent citizens. Among those in the early 1900s was Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow (the man holding the door in the background), a physician and friend of Theodore Roosevelt, who is seen here walking down the steps to Beacon Street. According to contemporary newspaper accounts, Roosevelt made several visits to Dr. Bigelow’s home on 56 Beacon Street after leaving the presidency.

Today, the exterior of the townhouse is virtually unchanged in the nearly 100 years since Roosevelt’s visit. As of July 2014, the house, which was built in 1819, is for sale – for a mere $11.9 million.

Milk/State Station, Boston

July 27, 2015July 29, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The southbound platform of what is today the State station on the Orange Line. At the time that the photo was taken, around 1912, it was known as Milk station. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

The station in 2014:

As mentioned in this post, the modern-day Green Line was the first subway in Boston and in North America. It was opened in 1897, and was followed by the present-day Blue Line in 1904. However, these were essentially underground trolley lines, as opposed to heavy rail rapid transit most commonly associated with subway systems. Boston’s first true heavy rail rapid transit line was the Washington Street Elevated, which opened in 1901 and, as the name suggests, was elevated above Washington Street. However, through downtown it was routed through the present-day Green Line’s Tremont Street Subway.

This changed in 1908, when the Washington Street Tunnel was opened, allowing elevated trains to bypass the trolley tunnels. One unusual feature of this line, though, was that the northbound and southbound platforms were treated as different stations, with different names. In the case of the 1912 photo above, northbound passengers would access the subway through the State station, located at State Street under the Old State House. However, southbound passengers would enter a couple blocks away, at Milk Street, near Old South Meeting House, which meant the station, as seen on the walls in the 1912 photo, was called “Milk.”

Today, renovations have connected the two platforms, so that passengers can access trains in either direction from any entrance. However, the southbound platform, as seen here, has survived largely unchanged in over 100 years. The only major difference is the tunnel connecting to the northbound platform, which is barely visible in the 2014 photo off in the distance.