Lost New England

Arlington Street Church, Boston

February 9, 2018August 11, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Arlington Street Church in Boston, around 1862. Photo taken by J.J. Hawes, courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The church around 1904. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The church in 2014:

For the first two centuries of Boston’s history, this location was right on the waterfront. However, as the city grew in population, they needed more land, so by the 1850s, the city started filling in the Back Bay, adding new real estate along the Charles River from the Public Garden (seen in the lower right of the 1904 photo) to the Kenmore Square area. The Arlington Street Church, completed in 1861, was one of the first buildings to be constructed on the newly-created land. The first photo shows the neighborhood just as it began to be developed; plenty of empty land beyond the church is visible in the space between it and the apartment building to the right. Today, it remains an active church, and aside from no longer having ivy on its walls, it looks very much the same as it did 110 years ago.

South Station, Boston

July 16, 2023August 11, 2014 by Derek Strahan

South Station around the time that it opened in 1899. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same view around 1905, after the construction of the Atlantic Avenue Elevated. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

South Station in 2014:

These three photos reveal the changes that have taken place here at South Station over the past 115 years. While the building itself (or at least most of it) has remained essentially the same, its surroundings have continually changed.

Before 1899, four different railroads had terminals in the general vicinity of the present-day station. To make things simpler, South Station was built, and all four lines were rerouted to it. A few years later, in 1901, the Atlantic Avenue Elevated was built, as seen in the second photo. The rapid transit line included a station at South Station, which can be seen on the far right of the 1905 photo.

The third photo shows the result of changes in the way people travel; the Atlantic Avenue Elevated closed in 1938, and was demolished four years later. Even South Station was seeing a severe drop in passengers in postwar America, as cars became the primary method of travel. However, Boston’s colonial-era street network was not particularly accommodating to large number of cars, so the Central Artery was built in the 1950s. Most of the Central Artery was elevated, but it was put underground for a few blocks near South Station, and was known as the Dewey Square Tunnel.

The Dewey Square Tunnel turned out to be a foreshadowing of things to come; part of Boston’s infamous Big Dig involved putting the entire Central Artery underground. Today, the tunnel is still there, directly underneath where I was standing when I took the photo. It is the only existing part of the Central Artery; the remainder of the 1950s-era expressway was demolished upon completion of the Big Dig.

Today, South Station has been trimmed a bit – notice that the facade on both sides is shorter than in the first two photos. This was a result of demolition in the 1960s, at a time when many railroads were cutting back or eliminating passenger service. However, today South Station is a busy transportation center again – it is the busiest railroad station in New England and the sixth busiest in the country, and it is the northern terminus of the Northeast Corridor, the busiest rail line in the country.

Park Street, Boston

November 26, 2016August 11, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Looking up Park Street from Tremont Street, around 1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

Park Street in 2014:

Not much has changed on Park Street in the past century. Boston Common is still there, fence and all. The Massachusetts State House still dominates the top of Beacon Hill, and to the right Park Street Church still looks almost the same. Even the storm drain and manholes are still there.

Summer Street, Boston

November 26, 2016August 11, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Looking up Summer Street from Lincoln Street, around 1904. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same view in 2014:

Although this is part of Boston’s Financial District, this part of Summer Street doesn’t look too dramatically different from 110 years ago. Several of the older buildings are still recognizable, with the most noticeable being the one on the far left. Known as the Church Green, it is named after the New South Church that once stood on the site. It was demolished in 1868, and replaced by a bank building. That building burned just a few years later in the 1872 fire, and the present-day building was completed in 1873. In the 1904 photo, it advertised a number of shoe-related services, including shoe polish, womens shoes, and boot and shoe patterns. Today, the first floor has a Dunkin Donuts and a Chipotle.

Park Street Station, Boston

November 26, 2016August 10, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The entrances to the Park Street station, taken from in front of Park Street Church, around 1900. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2014:

The entrances to the subway are still there, as is Boston Common, but the background is very different, with the skyline of Boston’s Back Bay rising above the trees on Boston Common. Boston’s two tallest buildings can be seen here: the John Hancock Tower, which is in the center of the photo, and the Prudential Center, barely visible to the right of the John Hancock Tower. The Freedom Trail passes through this intersection, with the brick path echoing the cobblestone rows that once crossed Park Street.

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.