Lost New England

Old Northampton High School, Northampton Mass

July 23, 2019April 13, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The old Northampton High School building, at the corner of Main and New South Streets, between 1900 and 1906. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The building in 2014:

This building served as Northampton’s high school from 1895 until 1940, and while it looks the same in both photos, it was gutted in a 1914 fire, leaving only the exterior walls. The interior was rebuilt, and later served as an elementary school before being converted into condominiums.

Main Street, Northampton Mass (2)

April 12, 2018April 13, 2014 by Derek Strahan

The view looking west from the corner of Main & King Streets in Northampton, around 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The view in 2018:

Taken around the same time as this photo, from the opposite end of Main Street, not a whole lot has changed with the buildings. However, just about everything else has – the busy intersection no longer has trolley tracks, but has plenty of cars, along with pedestrians and protesters outside the courthouse (left). As previously mentioned, these photos were taken around the time that Calvin Coolidge was beginning his political career; he would’ve seen this view daily as he walked the half a block from his law office to the courthouse.

Main Street, Northampton, Mass

January 27, 2016April 13, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Main Street in Northampton, looking east from in front of City Hall, around 1907. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same view in 2014:

From this angle, downtown Northampton appears virtually unchanged in over a century. The first photo is the view that then-state representative Calvin Coolidge would’ve seen as he walked out of City Hall and headed towards his law office. Within a few years, he would become mayor of Northampton, and from there he quickly moved up the political ranks.

Hampden Park, Springfield, Mass

January 26, 2016March 23, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Hampden Park in Springfield, Mass, during a football game, probably around 1905. Photo from Springfield: Present and Prospective, published in 1905.

The approximate scene in 2014:

First, a quick explanation: these two photos do not necessarily match up perfectly. They are both oriented in the same direction, but I don’t know whether this particular field was located here, or further south. The baseball diamond is visible in contemporary maps; an 1899 city map shows it further south, while a 1910 map shows it at approximately the location of the present-day photo. However, as I don’t know when the transition happened, I am left only to estimate when re-creating the 1905 photo.

In any case, Hampden Park (not to be confused with the major sports arena of the same name in Glasgow, Scotland) was used for a variety of athletic events for over a century. First opened in the 1850s, the site, bounded by the Connecticut River, the railroad tracks, and Plainfield/West Street (North End Bridge), was originally used for horse and bicycle racing. In 1861, it was used as the muster grounds for Civil War infantrymen, and later became a baseball field as well. It was here that in 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball’s first openly professional team, played against the Springfield Mutuals. Cincinnati won 80-5 en route to a perfect 65-0 season. A few years later, several National Association (the precursor to modern Major League Baseball) games were played here – first the short-lived Middletown Mansfields for a game in 1872, and later, for one game each year in 1873 and 1875, the Boston Red Stockings, now known as the Atlanta Braves, played at Hampden Park.

Later on, the park became home to a series of minor league baseball teams, with the location of the field changing several times. Most recently, it was located in the northwest corner of the lot, closest to the North End Bridge. Built in 1922 as the creatively-named League Park, it was renovated and renamed Pynchon Park in 1940. This field was home to minor league affiliates for the Cubs and later for the Giants; from 1950 through 1953, they were the Springfield Cubs, Chicago’s AAA affiliate. The last season of Springfield minor league baseball was in 1965, when the AA Springfield Giants played here; the next year, the team moved, and the park burned down. The present-day photo above was taken from around the left-field corner of the park, with the former location of home plate being being behind me, around where the Pride gas station and convenience store now stands.

In the first photo above, the field is configured for a football game, likely an Ivy League college game. From 1889 to 1894, the annual Harvard-Yale game was played here, as Springfield was a neutral site in between Cambridge and New Haven; after a particularly violent 1894 game, known as the “Hampden Park Blood Bath,” the game was suspended for two years, and the number of severe injuries called into question the future of the entire sport. Later on, in 1905 and 1906, Hampden Park hosted the Brown-Dartmouth game, and it is possible that the 1905 game might be the one in the above photo.

Memorial Square, Springfield, Mass

February 9, 2018March 23, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Memorial Square and Memorial Congregational Church in Springfield, Mass., around 1908. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2014:

Built in 1869, the former Memorial Congregational Church has been home to St. George Greek Orthodox Church (now Cathedral) since 1940. In the foreground is a monument to Massachusetts veterans from the Spanish-American War. Neither the church nor the statue have changed much in appearance, although the quiet elm-lined streets have changed; Memorial Square is now the intersection of Routes 20 (left) and 116 (right), and the on-ramp for Interstate 91 is visible just beyond the church, on Route 20.

Union Station, Springfield, Mass

January 25, 2020March 23, 2014 by Derek Strahan

Union Station in Springfield, Mass, around 1905. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2014:

Prior to 1890, trains passing through Springfield on the Boston & Albany Railroad had to cross Main Street at street level; this resulted in significant traffic issues as the city grew, so in 1890 a stone arch was built over Main Street, and an elevated stone viaduct carried the railroad through downtown. As part of this, the old Union Station was opened in 1889. Designed by Shelby, Rutan and Coolidge in the style of Henry Hobson Richardson, the station consisted of buildings on both the north and south sides of the tracks (as seen in this photo, taken around the same time). The 1905 photo shown above shows the south side, looking east along Lyman Street. This station was demolished in 1925 and replaced with the present-day Union Station. This station, located on the other side of the tracks, has been closed since 1974, but is in the process of being renovated. In the meantime, rail travelers today use the Lyman Street entrance to access the modern Amtrak station, which is a far cry from Richardson’s original design.