Mt. Tom

Mount Tom Railroad, Holyoke, Mass (3)

by

The trolley Elizur Holyoke approaching the summit on the Mount Tom Railroad, around 1905-1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2021:

The first photo shows the trolley Elizur Holyoke, one of two that operated on the Mount Tom Railroad. Together with the Rowland Thomas, these two cars formed a funicular railway; they were connected by a cable that allowed the descending car to use its weight to help pull the other one up the mountain. This cable, which is seen in the foreground in the middle of the tracks in the first photo, was not powered by a motor at the summit, but instead each car had its own motors, which drew power from overhead wires by way of a trolley pole, as shown atop the Elizur Holyoke in the photo.

The Mount Tom Railroad opened in 1897, allowing visitors to reach the newly-constructed Summit House atop the 1,200-foot Mount Tom. It was just under a mile in length, and it rose 700 feet in elevation, with an average grade of 14 percent and a maximum of 21.5 percent. Most of the route was straight, with the exception of a curve near the summit, which is shown here in this scene. The cars typically ran once every half hour, although they could be operated more frequently depending on demand. Each car could seat 84 passengers, and over the course of an average season the railroad typically carried about 75,000 people to and from the summit.

Aside from the railroad itself, this scene also offers a view of the northernmost portion of the Mount Tom Range, along with part of the Holyoke Range. Appropriately enough, the first photo shows the Elizur Holyoke directly below Mount Holyoke. Both the mountain and the trolley share the same namesake, and the mountain also lent its name to the city of Holyoke, where Mount Tom is located. Further to the left of Mount Holyoke is Mount Nonotuck, which is visible near the upper left corner of the first photo.

When the railroad and Summit House here on Mount Tom opened in 1897, both of these mountains already had long-established hotels at their summits, with the Prospect House on Mount Holyoke and the Eyrie House on Mount Nonotuck. Unlike those businesses, though, the Summit House did not offer overnight accommodations, and instead catered entirely to day visitors. In any case, the aging Eyrie House was never a major competitor to the Summit House, and it ultimately burned in 1901. As for the Prospect House, its 20th century history would largely mirror that of the Summit House, and both ultimately closed in the late 1930s amid declining business during the Great Depression.

The Summit House was demolished around 1938, and the railroad tracks were removed around the same time. Then, in 1944 the property was sold to the radio station WHYN, which built towers and buildings at the summit and converted the railroad right-of-way into a paved access road. Overall, though, this scene has not changed much, aside from the loss of the railroad tracks. The slopes of Mount Tom still look much the same as they did when the first photo was taken, as do the mountains in the distance, although some are obscured by tree growth in the present-day photo. Even the Prospect House on Mount Holyoke is still standing, and it is barely visible as a tiny white speck just to the left of the summit in both photos. Now preserved as a museum, this historic building is one of the few surviving 19th century mountaintop resorts in the northeast, having long outlived its newer competitors on Mount Nonotuck and here on Mount Tom.

Mount Tom Railroad, Holyoke, Mass (2)

by

The trolley Elizur Holyoke passing through a rock cut on the Mount Tom Railroad, around 1900-1910. Image courtesy of the Holyoke Public Library.

The scene in 2021:

As explained in the previous post, the Mount Tom Railroad was a nearly mile-long funicular railway that brought visitors up to the Summit House at the top of Mount Tom. It opened in 1897, and it featured two trolleys connected by a cable. When one car descended, its weight helped pull the other car up the mountain. Each car also had its own electric motors, powered by overhead wires, which provided additional power to compensate for differences in weight and energy lost to friction. Most of the rail line what a single track, aside from a short turnout at the midpoint to allow the cars to pass.

The railroad rose 700 feet in elevation, with an average grade of 14 percent and a maximum grade of 21.5 percent. The route was mostly straight, although there was a gentle curve near the summit. Along the way, this route required several rock cuts and fills, to maintain a consistent grade. The largest of these cuts is shown here in these photos, about a third of a mile below the summit station. Here, trolleys would pass between two walls of Mount Tom’s distinctive basalt traprock, with its step-like formation.

The first photo shows the trolley Elizur Holyoke, named for the early settler who became the namesake of Mount Holyoke. According to tradition, he and fellow pioneer Rowland Thomas led an expedition up the Connecticut River, with Holyoke traveling up the east side and Thomas on the west side. After reaching an area where the river passes between two mountain ranges, the two men decided to name the eastern one for Holyoke, and the western one for Thomas. Appropriately enough, the other trolley here on the railroad was named the Rowland Thomas.

The Mount Tom Railroad remained in service for about 40 years. Its operating season generally lasted from May through October, and in a typical year would average around 75,000 visitors during the season. Among the most famous of these was President William McKinley, who visited with his wife Ida in 1899 and rode up the mountain on the Elizur Holyoke. Calvin Coolidge and his future wife Grace Goodhue also rode up the railroad in the early 20th century, although with far less fanfare than McKinley had enjoyed, since Coolidge was still an obscure young Northampton lawyer at the time.

The Summit House suffered two disastrous fires, first in 1901 and again in 1929. The second was particularly devastating to the railroad, since its small, hastily-constructed replacement failed to draw the same number of visitors to the summit. This, combined with increased car ownership during the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s, ultimately led to the Summit House and the railroad closing by the late 1930s. In 1938 the Summit House was dismantled, and around the same time the railroad tracks were torn up and removed.

During its many years in operation, the Mount Tom Railroad had a good safety record, and it does not appear to have had any major incidents. However, less than a decade after the railroad closed, this spot here would become the site of a deadly transportation disaster. On the night of July 9, 1946, an Army Air Corps B-17 airplane was en route from Goose Bay, Labrador to Westover Field in Chicopee. The plane had a crew of four, and it also carried 21 passengers who were returning from active duty in Greenland, including 15 Coast Guardsmen, four Army Air Corps servicemen, and two civilians. While attempting to land at the nearby airfield in the dark on a rainy night, the plane instead crashed into Mount Tom, hitting the exposed rock along this section of the railroad grade. The impact disintegrated the plane, killing all 25 men instantly and starting a large fire here. A group of people at nearby Mountain Park climbed up the railroad right-of-way, but they could not get close to the crash scene because of the intense heat, and in any case there was little that they could have done to assist at that point.

Today, more than 80 years after the railroad closed, its route is now a paved access road for the telecommunications towers that occupy the former site of the Summit House. However, there are still remnants of the old railroad along the road, including piles of discarded ties and metal support braces for the utility poles. On a more somber note, however, there are also many remnants of the B-17 crash throughout this area, including pieces of twisted metal and fragments of melted aluminum. The site of the crash is now marked by a monument that is inscribed with the names of the 25 men who died here. It is located about 100 yards in the distance, atop a rocky outcropping on the left side of the road. The monument itself is not visible in the present-day photo, but it can be reached via a short path that starts at the green bush in the distant center of the photo.

Mount Tom Railroad, Holyoke, Mass

by

The trolley Rowland Thomas on the Mount Tom Railroad in Holyoke, around 1905-1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2021:

The early 20th century was the heyday of electric trolleys in the United States. In the years prior to widespread car ownership, most cities and even many small towns were served by networks of trolley lines that were generally run by private companies. In order to maximize profits, these companies often built picnic groves, amusement parks, and other recreational facilities along their lines. Known as trolley parks, these generated revenue not only through admission fees, but also through increased trolley ridership on otherwise-slow weekends.

Here in Holyoke, the Holyoke Street Railway Company opened Mountain Park in the 1890s. It began as a small park at the base of Mount Tom, but it soon added amenities such as a dance hall, a restaurant, a roller coaster, and a carousel. Most significantly, though, the company also built a summit house at the top of the 1,200-foot mountain, allowing visitors to enjoy the expansive views of the Connecticut River valley. Mountaintop resorts were popular in the northeast during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and there were already several in the vicinity of Mount Tom, including the Prospect House on Mount Holyoke and the Eyrie House on Mount Nonotuck. However, unlike those establishments, the Summit House here on Mount Tom was not a hotel. Instead, it catered to day visitors, with a restaurant, a stage, and an observatory equipped with telescopes.

To bring visitors to the Summit House, the company constructed the Mount Tom Railroad, a nearly mile-long funicular railway that rose 700 feet in elevation from Mountain Park to a station just below the summit. It had an average grade of 14 percent, with a maximum grade of 21.5 percent at its steepest section. The lower part of the route was straight, as shown here in this view looking down from the midpoint, although there was a gentle curve right before the summit station. Like most funiculars, it consisted of two cars that were connected by a cable. As one car descended, it pulled the other car up the mountain, allowing gravity to do most of the work. The cable itself was unpowered, but the cars each had their own electric motors powered by overhead wires, in order to compensate for weight differences and energy lost to friction.

The two cars were named the Rowland Thomas and Elizur Holyoke, in honor of the early colonists who became the namesakes of Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke. Each car was 36 feet long, 9 feet wide, and could seat 84 passengers. They were connected to each other by a 5,050-foot-long, 1.25-inch steel cable, which passed over a large sheave at the summit. This sheave was mounted on an A-frame that was, in turn, bolted securely into the rock. In addition, the cars maintained constant telephone connection with each other, by way of telephone lines that ran alongside the tracks just above ground level, as shown in the lower left corner of the first photo. The cars connected to these by way of brush-like shoes that ran along the top of the wires as the car moved.

Because of the steep grade of the railroad, the cars’ braking ability was of critical importance, as an uncontrolled descent would likely have had deadly consequences. To prevent this, the cars had several independent braking systems. Each car was equipped with standard trolley brakes, but the cable itself was controlled by a centrifugal governor at the summit that automatically slowed the cable once it began moving faster than 1,400 feet per minute, or about 16 miles per hour. This second feature obviously only worked if the cable remained intact, but there was yet another braking system in the event of a catastrophic failure of the cable. As shown in the first photo, a third rail ran inside the tracks next to the cable. In an emergency, the motorman could activate a lever that would cause the car to clamp on to this rail. This could also be done automatically, by a governor that was set to engage the rail once the car exceeded 1,500 feet per minute, or 17 miles per hour.

In any funicular railway, one of the other challenges is determining how the two cars will pass each other. The simplest solution is to have two parallel tracks, with each car operating on its own track at all times. However, this requires a wider right-of-way, along with significantly more materials than a single-track railway. One alternative is a three-rail funicular, in which each car has its own outside rail and shares the middle one, diverging only at a short passing section. The other option is to have one track for both cars, with a turnout at the halfway point. This requires the least amount of land and materials, but it requires a complex track arrangement at the turnout to ensure each car takes the correct path and safely crosses over the cable.

Here on Mount Tom, the railroad engineers chose the third option, as shown in the first photo. The two cars met at a passing loop, which is visible in the lower center of the photo. At first glance it looks similar to a standard railroad switch, but the key difference is that it has no moving parts. Instead, the cars and tracks are designed so that each one can only take one path, which remains the same regardless of whether the car is heading up or down the mountain. As such, the Rowland Thomas always took the tracks on the north side (the left side when viewed from this direction), while the Elizur Holyoke always took the south side.

To achieve this, the two cars had different wheel arrangements. The wheels on one side of the car had a wider tread than on the other side, which caused them to be guided along deflector rails onto the correct track. For the Rowland Thomas, these wide-tread wheels were on the left side when it was headed uphill, and for the Elizur Holyoke they were on the right side. On the same side as these wheels, each car also had an extra set of wheels that were slightly raised above the others and hung out about 15 inches from the main wheels. Because the turnout required gaps in the main rail to allow the cable to pass through, there was a short section of rail next to these gaps. As the main wheels approached the gap, the auxiliary wheels would roll along this additional rail, preventing what would otherwise be a derailment.

Work on the railroad began in March 1897, and it was completed in time for the summer season, opening on May 25. It operated throughout the summer and into the fall foliage season, before closing for the winter at the end of October. Round trip fare was 25 cents, and included the trolley ride along with use of the Summit House. The trolleys were scheduled to run twice an hour, with extra trips as needed. However, by September this schedule was insufficient to keep up with demand, as indicated by a Springfield Republican article that criticized the railroad for dangerously overcrowded trolleys.

During the early years of the railroad, perhaps its most distinguished passenger was President William McKinley, who visited Mount Tom along with his wife Ida on June 19, 1899. A number of onlookers gathered at the lower station to catch a glimpse of the president, who sat in the front seat of the Elizur Holyoke trolley for the ride up the mountain. At the summit, he and Ida were likewise greeted by a large crowd, and they spent about an hour there, where they ate a light lunch at Summit House before heading back down the mountain.

As it turned out, the McKinleys would be the first of at least two presidential couples who would travel up the Mount Tom Railroad. About five years later, a young Calvin Coolidge and Grace Goodhue visited the mountain on a date. At the time, Calvin was a lawyer in Northampton and Grace was a teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf. While at the Summit House, he purchased a souvenir plaque of the mountain, which became the first gift he ever gave her. They subsequently married in 1905, and he went on to become governor, vice president, and then ultimately president in 1923.

In the meantime, the original Summit House only lasted for a few years before being destroyed by a fire in 1900. Its replacement opened the following year, but this too would eventually burn, in 1929. By contrast, the Mount Tom Railroad itself appears to have avoided any major incidents throughout its history. However, there were occasional breakdowns that forced passengers to walk down the mountain, and in at least one instance causing a number of people to spend the night in makeshift accommodations at the Summit House.

On July 24, 1928, at around 9:15pm, the Rowland Thomas had to stop about 150 feet from the upper station because of a broken journal on one of its axles. This likewise caused the Elizur Holyoke to stop the same distance from the lower station. The passengers on the Elizur Holyoke were able to easily return to the station, but about 50 people were  stranded at the summit. Many chose to walk down the mountain in the dark, guided by railroad employees with lanterns, but 22 remained at the Summit House overnight. Some stayed up all night, playing bridge and dancing, and most descended the mountain after sunrise, although four guests stayed at the summit until railroad service was restored later in the day. A similar incident occurred less than a month later, when a spread rail stopped the trolleys at about 9:00pm. This time, 35 people walked down in the dark, but it does not appear that anyone spent the night at the summit.

After the 1929 fire at the Summit House, the railroad quickly constructed a temporary replacement at the summit. It had intended to then build a more permanent structure, but by the early 1930s the mountain faced declining numbers of visitors. Part of this was because of the Great Depression, which began just months after the fire here. Another factor was increased car ownership among the middle class, which meant that recreational activities were no longer limited to places that people could access by trolley.

At the base of the mountain, Mountain Park would remain a popular amusement park for decades, but both the Mount Tom Railroad and the Summit House closed in the late 1930s. The temporary Summit House was dismantled for scrap metal in 1938, and around the same time the railroad tracks were taken up and removed. The rails and other metal components were presumably reused or scrapped, but the wooden ties were discarded in piles alongside the right-of-way. More than 80 years later, many of these ties are still in remarkably good condition, and a few are visible in the lower right corner of the second photo.

The railroad ultimately sold the summit area and the right-of-way to the WHYN radio station, which constructed radio towers and transmitter buildings on the site of the old Summit House. The old railroad grade was paved over, and it became an access road for the radio station. As a result, the present-day scene looks very different from the first photo, although there are still a few remnants of the old railroad, including the ties, some discarded spikes, and metal support braces for the old utility poles that once supported the electrified trolley wire.

Mount Tom Summit House, Holyoke, Mass. (2)

by

The view of the Mount Tom Summit House between 1905 and 1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

160_1905-1915-loc

The view in 2014:

160_2014

These photos were taken from near the location of the upper station of the trolley line; from here, visitors would walk up to the Summit House. Today, the Metacomet & Monadnock Trail traverses the summit and goes past the location where the photos were taken, on its way from the Connecticut state line to the summit of Mt. Monadnock in southern New Hampshire.

Mount Tom Summit House, Holyoke, Mass.

by

The view of the Mount Tom Summit House around 1901-1905. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The same view in 2019:

Rising more than 1,200 feet above sea level, Mount Tom is the highest point on the Metacomet Ridge, a narrow traprock mountain range that extends through Connecticut and Massachusetts from Long Island Sound to just south of the Vermont border. Although modest in elevation compared to the much higher mountains to the west of here in the Berkshires, Mount Tom and the other peaks on the Metacomet Ridge stand out because they are situated in the middle of the Connecticut River valley. As a result, Mount Tom stands nearly a thousand feet higher than the surrounding landscape, making it the most topographically-prominent mountain in the state outside of the Berkshires.

Because of this prominence, the major peaks of the Metacomet Ridge, particularly Mount Tom and nearby Mount Holyoke, became popular destinations starting in the 19th century. This was the era of grand mountaintop resorts, and one of the first in the country was located atop Mount Holyoke, where the view inspired Thomas Cole to paint The Oxbow, one of the most celebrated landscape paintings in the history of American art. The Summit House on Mount Holyoke was soon joined by the rival Eyrie House, which opened in 1861 on Mount Nonotuck, at the northern end of the Mount Tom Range. Together, these two hotels stood watch on opposite sides of the Connecticut River throughout the 19th century.

However, the main peak of Mount Tom, which is located here at the extreme southern end of the mountain, remained undeveloped for many years. Then, in the 1890s, William S. Loomis of the Holyoke Street Railway purchased a large tract of land on the mountain, including the summit, and began developing it into a trolley park for his company. Such parks were common during this period, as the trolley companies benefited not only from admission prices, but also from the increased ridership on weekends, when trolley lines were normally less busy.

At the base of the mountain, the Holyoke Street Railway built Mountain Park, which featured attractions such as a dance hall, a restaurant, a small roller coaster, and a carousel. These were fairly typical for trolley parks of the era, but a far more ambitious plan involved constructing a funicular railway from the park to the summit. It was known as the Mount Tom Railroad, and it was just under a mile in length, with a total elevation gain of 700 feet. The line featured two trolley cars and one track, with a turnout halfway up the mountain to allow the two cars to pass each other. Both cars were connected via a cable, so that as one car descended, the other ascended. This arrangement significantly reduced the amount of power needed to climb the mountain, as the weight of the descending car helped to pull the other one up.

The railway was completed in 1897, and that same year the first Summit House opened here at the top. It was not a hotel, unlike the older buildings on Mount Holyoke and Mount Nonotuck, but it offered a variety of other amenities for visitors. The first floor featured a restaurant, dining room, and parlors, and the second floor included a stage. On the top of the building was a cupola, with an observatory that was equipped with telescopes. Use of the Summit House was included in the railway fare, which cost 25 cents for a round trip when it first opened.

The Summit House soon proved to be popular, and probably its most distinguished visitor was President William McKinley, who traveled up the mountain with his wife Ida in 1899 and purportedly declared the view to be “the most beautiful mountain out look in the whole world.” The McKinleys’ visit, which included lunch at the Summit House, was well-publicized, and it was even captured on film, in a 30-second clip that still survives today. In the footage, the president and first lady are shown leaving the Summit House and walking along the promenade on the west side of the building, not far from where the first photo in this post was later taken.

Unfortunately, the first Summit House on Mount Tom did not last long. Just three years after its completion, it was destroyed by a fire on October 8, 1900. The cause of the blaze was never determined, although it apparently started in the basement, where the watchman discovered it around 8:45 p.m. Some of the contents were rescued from the burning building, but otherwise it was a total loss. The fire proved to be quite a spectacle for the surrounding area, and it was reportedly visible from at least 20 miles away. The Springfield Republican, reporting on it the following day, dramatically described how “From one end of the valley to the other, north and south, men’s eyes were turned to the beacon of flame in wonder, in pity, and in admiration.” Further in its narrative, the newspaper declared that “The sight of such a titanic bonfire will not soon be forgotten by those who witnessed it.”

Mountaintop buildings were particularly vulnerable to fires. Not only were they generally built of wood, but they were also located far from water sources, making firefighting a challenge. Just six months later, in April 1901, the nearby Eyrie House on Mount Nonotuck suffered the same fate as the first Summit House. In that case, the fire began after the owner, William Street, cremated two horses that had died at the top of the mountain. After the cremation, Street believed that the fire was out, but it reignited during the night, destroying the old hotel and the other buildings at the summit. The Eyrie House was never rebuilt, and its ruins still stand at the top of the mountain.

Here at the Summit House, though, the owners moved quickly to construct a new building. The second Summit House, which is shown here in the first photo, was completed in 1901, and it was significantly larger than the original one. The dining room was located on the first floor, with a hall and stage on the second floor. Both of these floors also had 14-foot-wide piazzas that extended around the entire building. The third floor featured another hall, along with storerooms and water tanks, and it was surrounded by an open deck above the piazzas.

The main observatory, with its large plate glass windows, was on the fourth floor, but there were three more levels of observatories that rose above it. The highest level was the cupola, which measured 11 feet in diameter and stood nearly a hundred feet above the ground. It was equipped with telescopes, and it was topped by an octagonal copper dome that was covered in gold leaf. Overall, the Summit House cost about $25,000 to build, and it was designed by local architect James A. Clough, who was responsible for a number of important buildings in Holyoke at the turn of the 20th century.

The first photo was taken within a few years after the new Summit house was completed, and it shows the northwest corner of the building. On the right is the boardwalk that, only a few years earlier, President McKinley had walked on. Just beyond the railing is the steep western cliff of the mountain, and from here visitors could enjoy panoramic views of Easthampton and the surrounding landscape, with the Berkshire mountains further to the west. The east side of the mountain, which is partially seen on the left side of the photo, slopes down more gently, but it still afforded views to the south and east, facing toward the cities of Holyoke and Springfield. In the foreground, in the center of the photo, is a small kiosk. It appears to have been closed at the time, but in other photos of the summit it has a sign advertising for salted peanuts and corn cakes, which could be had for five cents.

With the new Summit House completed, visitors continued to make the trip up the mountain in large numbers. In 1903, the Springfield Republican reported that around 60,000 to 80,000 people came here each year, during the nearly six-month operating season. Up to that point, the single-day record was 3,300 people, which occurred on a Labor Day. Around 1904, one of the visitors to the mountaintop was a young Calvin Coolidge, who came up here with his future wife, Grace Goodhue, early in their courtship. He purchased a porcelain plaque of the mountain here, and this became the first gift that he ever gave to her.

Throughout the first quarter of the 20th century, the Summit House remained a popular attraction. The number of visitors remained fairly constant during this time, with an average of about 75,000 in its later years, and 80,000 in its last full season of operation in 1928. However, like its predecessor, this Summit House was also destroyed in a fire. The night watchman discovered the fire on the observation floor around 6:00 p.m. on the night of May 2, 1929. After alerting the fire department he attempted to extinguish the flames himself, but he was unsuccessful. By the time the firefighters arrived, there was little that could be done to save the building. These efforts were hampered, at least in part, by the fact that the hotel’s 5,000-gallon water tanks were not working properly.

As with the burning of the first Summit House, this blaze attracted considerable attention in the vicinity of the mountain, and it was visible from at least 30 miles away. The Holyoke Street Railway, which still owned the property, even capitalized on the public’s morbid curiosity, and within a matter of days they were bringing sightseers up here on the trolleys to view the remains of the Summit House, which consisted of little more than the stone foundation and the chimney.

In the meantime, the Holyoke Street Railway wasted no time in building a temporary replacement. This hastily-constructed Summit House opened less than two months later at the end of June, and it consisted of two stories, with a steel frame and corrugated steel walls. It was much smaller than either of its two predecessors, with dancing and dining facilities relocating to Mountain Park, but the new building did offer refreshments and souvenirs, along with telescopes for visitors to use. It was located immediately to the north of the old building, around the spot where these two photos were taken.

Although designed to be temporary, this third building was never replaced by a permanent structure. Mountaintop resorts such as the Summit House were already in decline by the late 1920s, thanks to the increasing popularity of automobiles and the new travel opportunities that they created. The Great Depression, which began just months after the grand reopening, did not help matters either, and by the end of the 1930s both the Mount Tom Railroad and the Summit House had closed.

The railroad tracks were taken up in 1938 or early 1939, and the temporary summit house was dismantled around the same time. The steel beams were sold for scrap, but the corrugated steel panels were unceremoniously dumped over the side of the cliff, where they still remain more than 80 years later. Only the upper railroad station, which was just a little further to the north of here, was left standing, but this burned in 1941.

The Holyoke Street Railway continued to operate Mountain Park at the base of the mountain, and the park survived into the late 1980s. However, in 1944 the company sold the summit area to the WHYN radio station. Using the mountain’s elevation to increase its range, WHYN built towers and transmitter buildings here in the foundation of the old Summit House. The old railroad bed was converted into a paved access road, and the project was completed in 1947, when WHYN and two other local stations, WACE and WMAS, began broadcasting from here.

Today, more than a century after the first photo was taken, the summit continues to be used by a variety of radio and television stations. The old Summit House foundation is still there, although it is off-limits to the public and guarded by a barbed wire fence. However, the rest of the summit area is open for hikers, who are able to enjoy the same views that drew tens of thousands of visitors here each year during the early 20th century. And, although much has changed here, there are still some reminders of what used to be here. Most obvious is the boardwalk, which still runs along the western cliff of the summit. Much of it has collapsed, especially here in the foreground, but it stands today as the only surviving feature from the first photo.

View looking north from the Mount Tom Summit House, Holyoke, Mass.

by

The view looking north from the Mount Tom Summit House, between 1900 and 1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.

The scene in 2019:

As with the previous photo, it wasn’t possible to perfectly re-create the original image, because it was taken from atop a building that no longer exists. However, the 2019 photo shows the same general view, although from ground level.  I took the photo from around the same spot as the concession stand in the lower right corner of the first photo.  According to the sign on the building, they offered “Salted Peanuts and Kibbe’s Corn Cakes” for five cents.  The building further away on the right-hand side of the photo is the upper station of the railway, which ran trolleys up and down the mountain, carrying passengers for 25 cents per ride.  The boardwalk in the first photo leads down to the station, where the people in the photo most certainly arrived at the summit – I can’t imagine any of them climbing up in such clothing.