Years

Trinity Church, Boston

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Trinity Church in Boston, in 1920. Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

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The church in 2013:

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Located at Copley Square in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, Trinity Church was built between 1872 and 1877, to replace the parish’s previous church, which had been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1872.  The church was designed by noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson, and is generally regarded as his magnum opus.

The surrounding of the church have changed, even though the building itself has remained essentially the same.  Originally, Huntington Avenue (foreground in the 1920 photo) cut diagonally in front of the church; this was changed in 1966, and the former roadway is now part of a park in front of the church.  Behind the church is the Berkeley Building, also known as the Old John Hancock Building, and not to be confused with the John Hancock Tower, which is located immediately to the right of Trinity Church, just out of the picture.

American Falls, Niagara Falls, New York (2)

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The American Falls at Niagara Falls, seen from the Canadian side around 1905. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Niagara Falls

The same view a century later in 2005:

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As mentioned in my previous post, the American side of Niagara Falls has changed a great deal, with erosion contributing to the large pile of rocks at the base of the waterfall.  In 1969, the water was diverted away from the American Falls, and work was done to stabilize it and prevent it from becoming just a series of rapids, but the existing rocks at the base were not removed.  As a result, the American Falls looks far less dramatic than it did 100 years ago, but the Falls nonetheless remain just as popular a tourist destination as ever.

At the base of the Falls is the Maid of the Mist, one of of two such boats that brought tourists to the base of the Falls.  Both of these boats burned in a fire in 1955, but newer Maid of the Mist boats continue to give tours of Niagara Falls.

American Falls, Niagara Falls, New York (1)

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A young man and woman, seated in front of the American Falls at Niagara Falls, around 1858. Photo courtesy of Library and Archives Canada.

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The scene in 2005:

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Niagara Falls has been a popular tourist destination since the 19th century, and was particularly popular as a honeymoon destination – perhaps that was the occasion for the young couple in the first photo.  Much has changed at the Falls since then, both the surrounding area and the waterfalls themselves.  In the distance, the high-rise buildings reflect the increasing popularity and tourist-oriented nature of Niagara Falls, and if the cameras were turned around, one would see even more striking changes on the Canadian side of the gorge.

One obvious change with the American Falls is the accumulation of rocks at its base.  The 2005 photo shows a much shorter distance from the top to the rocks at the bottom, which were deposited by rock slides and erosion caused by the waterfall’s steady retreat upstream.  By the 1960’s, there was great concern that the American Falls would erode to the point where they would become a series of rapids rather than a true waterfall, so the water was diverted from it and the American side of the Falls was temporarily shut off.  Geologists secured and stabilized some of the most erosion-prone areas, but they determined that it would be too costly to remove the rocks that had already fallen.

Calvin Coolidge at the White House, Washington DC

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President Calvin Coolidge on the South Lawn of the White House in 1925. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection.

Presidents

The South Lawn in 2012:

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In my previous post on the White House, I mentioned some of the changes that have occurred to the building since it was first occupied by John Adams, so I’m not going to go into great detail about the structure itself.  What I do find interesting about these two photos is not the building itself, but rather the people in the photos.  President Coolidge is clearly visible in the first photo, but look carefully at the second photo – President and Mrs. Obama are sitting on the second floor balcony, right between the two middle pillars.  So, not only do these two photos document changes in the building, in transportation (note the truck to the right of Coolidge, compared to the SUV on the left-hand side of the 2012 photo), and in presidential security (note the lack of Secret Service agents in Coolidge’s photo); they also document two presidents, who served 80 years apart, and who held very different political views, but who nonetheless occupied the same office and the same building.

Fenway Park, Boston (4)

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The exterior of Fenway Park in 1914. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Bain Collection.

The same view in 2006:

The scene in 2024:

This is probably the only part of Fenway Park that is virtually unchanged since it opened nearly 102 years ago.  Several fires, a massive reconstruction in 1934, and a number of smaller changes along the way have left very little remaining from the original park.  However, the Jersey Street façade hasn’t changed much, aside from the addition of various championship banners that the team has won since they first made Fenway their home.

2024 update: I have added a 2024 photo of the same scene. Not a whole lot has changed, but there are a few additional World Series championship banners in the distance.

Samuel Hartwell House, Lincoln, Mass.

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The Samuel Hartwell House, in Lincoln, Mass, in 1961. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey Collection.

Lincoln

The scene in 2013:

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Located along the Battle Road in the Minuteman National Historical Park, the Samuel Hartwell House was built around 1695, and was occupied by Samuel Hartwell during the battles of Lexington and Concord, when the British forces marched to and from Concord past the house.  The house was used as a restaurant from 1929 until 1968, when it burned.  All that remained was the central chimney and the cellarhole; the National Park Service later built the frame and roof in the style of the original building.