Forest Park Neighborhood Springfield

Althine W. Clark House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 163 Forest Park Avenue in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:


This house was built in 1909, around the time when this section of Forest Park was being developed as an upscale residential neighborhood. It was originally the home of Althine W. Clark, who was in her early 80s when she moved here. Her husband Leonard, a stove merchant, had died in 1904, and she moved into this house with her daughters Addie and Susan, her granddaughter Althine, and a servant. Addie died in 1913, and that same year another one of Althine’s children, Colonel Charles H. Clark, moved in here. A West Point graduate and career Army officer, Colonel Clark lived here for two years after his retirement, until his death in 1915. Althine herself remained here until her death in 1921, after having outlived most of her nine children.

By the late 1920s, the house was owned by Alfred White, a Russian-born tailor. He and his wife Rose had immigrated to the United States in 1905, and they had four children who were living here during the 1930 census. The house was sold around 1933 and again in 1942, when it was purchased by veterinarian Donald M. Snow. He and his wife Eunice were still living here 40 years later, when the house became part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. They finally sold the property in 1987, and 30 years later the exterior of the house remains well-preserved, with hardly any discernible changes between the two photos.

William H. Sargeant House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 169 Forest Park Avenue in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:


This section of the Forest Park neighborhood was developed in the first decade of the 20th century, and consists primarily of Colonial Revival-style homes, such as this one on Forest Park Avenue. It was built in 1905 for William H. Sargeant, the vice president of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. He lived here with his wife Belle, and the couple had one child, William, Jr., who died in infancy. Belle died in 1922 when she was in her mid-40s, and within a few years William had moved to a new house at 406 Longhill Street.

By the 1930 census, this house was being rented by Kenneth S. Edwards, whose occupation was listed as an assistant sales manager for gasoline pumps. At the time, he was living here with his wife Stella and their two young children, but they moved out sometime around the time when the first photo was taken. Since then, hardly anything has changed with the exterior of the house. It has remained well-preserved, and it is part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Smith Platt House, Springfield, Mass

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The Smith Platt House on Sumner Avenue in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

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The house in 2016:

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Located next to the Lathrop House at the corner of Sumner Avenue and Washington Road, this house was built in 1893 for Smith H. Platt, a Methodist preacher, physician, and author. He was born in Connecticut and spent much of his life in New York City, but by the 1890s he was living here in Springfield and practicing medicine in an office in the house. He wrote several books, including an anti-slavery novel in 1859 entitled The Martyrs, and the Fugitive; or a Narrative of the Captivity, Sufferings, and Death of an African Family, and the Slavery and Escape of Their Son. Much later in life, in 1895, he published The Secrets of Health; or How Not to Be Sick and How to Get Well From Sickness, which provides somewhat dubious remedies for nearly every condition, including taking a teaspoon of turpentine before meals to treat cancer, drinking hydrogen peroxide to treat gangrene, and taking warm baths to treat insanity.

By the 1910 census, Platt was 81 years old and he was living here with his daughter Belle, her husband Leander W. White, and their two sons, Harrison and Gardner. He died two years later, and the White family remained here for many years. Leander was a banker, who by the 1920s was serving as vice president of Chicopee National Bank. Belle, like her father, was a physician, but she died relatively young in the 1920s. Leander and his two sons were still living in this house when the first photo was taken, and he died about 10 years later in 1949. Today, the house is still standing, and along with the surrounding houses it is virtually unchanged from the first photo. Like the rest of the neighborhood, it is part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

William May House, Springfield, Mass

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The William May House on Sumner Avenue in Springfield, on April 8, 1911. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Emerson Collection.

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The house in 2016:

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This house on Sumner Avenue in Springfield’s Forest Park neighborhood was built in 1911, around the time that the first photo was taken. It was built as a two-family home, with Springfield Public Market executives William May and Herman Isenberg each owning half of it. May was the president of the grocery store, and in 1920 he was living here with his wife Helen, their daughter Hilda, and an Irish servant named Catherine O’Connor. Isenberg was the treasurer of the company, and he was a German immigrant who lived here with his wife Ida, their children Alice and Joel, and a cousin.

By the 1940 census, both families were still living here, but William and Ida both died sometime between 1930 and 1940. Herman, 64 ears old at this point, was listed as the company president, and his 29 year old son Joel was still living here and working as a manager in the store. The two men were each listed as earning over $5,000 per year, which was the highest income category on the census, equivalent to over $85,000 today. They also employed three servants who earned between $350 and $780 per year, or about $6,000 to $13,000 today.

Today, the historic house is still a two-family building, and very little has changed on the exterior. Like the nearby Lathrop House, it is an excellent example of classical revival architecture from the turn of the last century, and it is part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

F.W. Lathrop House, Springfield, Mass

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The F.W. Lathrop House on Sumner Avenue in the Forest Park neighborhood of Springfield, on April 8, 1911. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Emerson Collection.

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The house in 2016:

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This mansion at 188 Sumner Avenue was built in 1899 for real estate dealer Frederick W. Lathrop and his wife Flora. At the time, Forest Park was becoming a fashionable neighborhood, and many large, elegant homes were built along Sumner Avenue and other streets in the area. The photo in this earlier post shows the house on the left side of the tree-lined street in around the same time period. Lathrop died in 1917 and Flora in 1933, and since then the home has gone through a variety of uses, including as a Jewish temple, a Jewish school, an art school, and a bed and breakfast. Today, the house is a well-preserved example of Springfield’s historic mansions, and it is part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Corner of Belmont and Sumner Avenues, Springfield, Mass

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A commercial building on Belmont Avenue, just north of Sumner Avenue at the “X” in Springfield’s Forest Park neighborhood, photographed on April 8, 1911. Image courtesy of the Longmeadow Historical Society, Emerson Collection.

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The view in 2016:

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When the first photo was taken, this section of the Forest Park neighborhood was still in the process of being developed, and the “X”, the six-way intersection of Sumner Avenue, Belmont Avenue, and Dickinson Street, would soon become its focal point. Completed in 1908, this building was among the first commercial buildings in the area, and it was in an ideal location on the north side of Sumner Avenue, wedged between Belmont Avenue and Dickinson Street. In 1911 its tenants included, from left to right, Drown’s Bakery, Chin Sam Laundry, Joseph Novrack First Class Shoe Repairing, and Joseph E. Hartt Meat Market. Over the years, other similar buildings were added around it, and the original facade has been altered, but it is still standing today.