Magnolia Terrace Springfield

The house at 92 Magnolia Terrace in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was built in 1902, as one of the many upscale homes constructed in Springfield at the turn of the 20th century, in order to meet the needs of the city’s growing population of upper middle class residents. Situated on Magnolia Terrace, one of the most desirable streets in the Forest Park neighborhood, this house was originally the home of insurance agent Herbert Stearns and his newlywed wife Mary. Originally from Connecticut, Herbert came to Springfield with his older brother Edwin, and the two started Stearns Brothers, an insurance agency with offices in the Fuller Building, at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets. Early in their business they represented Travelers Insurance, but they were later affiliated with Aetna and several other insurance companies.

Herbert and Mary Stearns lived here until about 1918, but by 1919 the house was owned by Forest L. Mather, who lived here with his wife Caroline and their three children. Mather was an executive for the American Brush Manufacturing Company, which was located on Main Street in downtown Springfield, and he and his family lived here until the late 1920s, when they moved to Manchester, New Hampshire. The house was vacant for several years afterwards, but by the early 1930s it was the home of James L. Durfee, a dairy equipment salesman. However, by about 1936 it was the home of Horace Quimby, a manager at Massachusetts Mutual who lived here with his wife Mary.

The Quimby family was living here when the first photo was taken in the late 1930s, and they remained here until about 1956 when they sold the house. By this point, Quimby was still working for Massachusetts Mutual, with the city directory listing him as assistant agency secretary. Since then, very little has changed with his former house, and it remains a well-preserved example of Colonial Revival architecture. Even the exterior materials – with clapboards on the first floor and shingles on the upper floors – are still the same, although the current paint scheme does not make this difference very noticeable. Today, like the other surrounding houses, it is part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The house at 102 Magnolia Terrace in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This Colonial Revival-style home was built in 1903, and was one of the many upscale houses developed in the Forest Park neighborhood at the turn of the 20th century. It was originally owned by James P. Caldwell, a conductor for the Boston & Maine Railroad, who was about 47 at the time and lived here with his wife Edna and their three children: Edgar, Edna, and Eugene. The family was still living here during the 1910 census, and by this point Edgar was working as a bookkeeper for a paper company, while his twin sister Edna was a stenographer for the United Electric Light Company.

Around 1913, the Caldwell family moved out of this house, which was sold to George G. Bulkley, the assistant secretary of the Springfield Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Originally from Connecticut, Bulkley moved to Springfield in 1912 after taking the position with Springfield Fire and Marine, and he and his wife Caroline moved into this house with their five children: George, Charles, Chester, James, and Caroline. In the years that followed, Bulkley steadily moved up the ranks of the insurance company, becoming vice president in 1917 and president in 1924. Along with this, he was also a director in a number of local corporations, including the Holyoke Water Power Company, the Springfield Street Railway, and the Third National Bank.

Their daughter Caroline died in 1921, when she was just eight years old, but their four sons all lived to adulthood. The three oldest followed their father into the insurance business while their youngest, James, became an attorney. By the 1930 census, only James was still living here with his parents, and a few years later they moved to a house nearby at 432 Longhill Street, on a hill overlooking the Connecticut River. During this time, George Bulkley continued to serve as president of Springfield Fire and Marine, and he would hold this position for a total of sixteen years before his death in 1940, at the age of 69.

In the meantime, this house on Magnolia Terrace remained in the Bulkley family even after George and Caroline moved out. When the first photo was taken in the late 1930s, their son Chester was renting the house, paying $50 a month and living here with his wife Helen and their daughters Janet and Ann. The house would stay in the family until 1949, and it has remained well-preserved since then. The only significant difference today is the front porch, which was enclosed in the first photo. However, this was almost certainly not original to the house, and today its appearance, with the open front porch, is probably closer to its 1903 design than it was when the first photo was taken.

The house at 111 Magnolia Terrace in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was built in 1907, and according to the state’s MACRIS database its first owner was Alex C. Eastman. However, if this was the case, he did not live here for very long, because the 1910 city atlas shows that it was owned by an E.A. Granger. He apparently used it as a rental property, because during that year’s census it was rented by Benjamin Franklin. Not to be confused with the 18th century statesman, this Franklin worked for a paper mill, and he lived here with his wife Jeannette, their two sons, and a servant.

By 1920, the house was owned by Adolf A. Geisel, a district manager for the Federal Motor Truck Company who here with his wife Angia, their two daughters, and Angia’s mother, Lizzie. They were not the only Geisels who lived in the Forest Park neighborhood during this time; Adolf’s older brother, Theodor, lived on Fairfield Street, and among his children was Theodor Seuss Geisel, who in later years would become the author Dr. Seuss.

Adolf Geisel was still living here in the mid-1920s, but by 1930 the family was living elsewhere in the city. The house appears to have been used as a rental property throughout most of the 1930s, but in 1938 it was sold to Harold and Mary Redden. The first photo was taken around this time, when the Reddens were living here with their son and five daughters. The family remained here for more than 20 years, until finally selling it in 1961.

In the nearly 80 years since the first photo was taken, the house has remained well-preserved. When Magnolia Terrace was developed over a century ago, it was intended to be a centerpiece of the neighborhood and it remains so today, with some of the finest homes in Forest Park. All of these homes, including this one, are now part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The house at 101 Magnolia Terrace in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was built in 1909, and was originally the home of George H. Wight. He only lived here for a short time, though, because by the late 1910s the house had been sold to Fred I. Bemis, an insurance clerk for Massachusetts Mutual. He was the grandson of Stephen C. Bemis, the founder of the Springfield-based Bemis & Call Tool Company, and he and his wife Flora had one child, Anna. Fred and Flora were living here by themselves during the 1920 census, but by 1930 they had moved to nearby Spruceland Avenue, where they lived with Fred’s cousin. However, this house remained in the family, because in 1930 Anna was living here with her husband, Preston T. Miller, and their two sons.

Anna and Preston lived here until the late 1930s, around the time that the first photo was taken. They moved to Canaan, New Hampshire, where they were living by the 1940 census, and they sold the house the following year. Nearly 80 years later, the house has hardly changed, and still stands as one of Forest Park’s many historic upscale homes from the turn of the 20th century. Along with the other homes in the neighborhood, it is now a contributing property in the Forest Park Heights Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The house at 83 Magnolia Terrace in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was among the many elegant Colonial Revival-style homes that were constructed in Springfield’s Forest Park neighborhood at the turn of the 20th century. It was built in 1901, and its original owner was Henry D. Williams, a superintendent for the American Writing Paper Company. He and his wife Mary had three sons, Roy, Howard, and Fay. All three graduated from M.I.T. in the early 1910s, and both Howard and Fay went on to serve in World War I. Mary died in 1913 at the age of 49, from complications after surgery to remove a tumor. Henry remarried a few years later, and around the same time he sold this house and moved to Holyoke, where he died in 1919.

By the 1920 census, this house was owned by Robert  Studley, a contractor who was living here with his wife Amy and their three children. However, Robert died the following year, when he was in his early 40s, and by the next census Amy and the children were renting a house elsewhere in the Forest Park neighborhood. In the meantime, this house was sold to Harry A. Sawyer, an insurance agent who worked as the Springfield branch manager for the Automobile Insurance Company of Hartford. During the 1930 census, he was living here along with his wife Grace and their three children, but they sold the house three years later.

The next owners of the house were Albert and Ruth Shaw. Albert was also involved in the insurance industry, working as a financial secretary for Massachusetts Mutual. They were still living here when the first photo was taken, along with their two sons, Lewis and Richard, as well as a servant. Since then, the exterior of the house has hardly changed, and like the rest of the neighborhood it remains well-preserved. It is now part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.