The corner of State Street and Maple Street in Springfield, between 1900 and 1909. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress, Detroit Publishing Company Collection.
The same street corner in 2013:
These photos were taken from the opposite side of State Street from the photos in this post, and show some of the changes that the Quadrangle area has undergone in the past 100+ years. Some things remain – Christ Church Cathedral and the statue of Samuel Chapin are the two obvious ones. Even minor details such as the short, bowling pin-looking granite posts on either side of the sidewalks are still there. But, the big difference, aside from the traffic lights and complete lack of cobblestone in the 2013 photo, is the main Springfield Library building.
The library building in the early 20th century photo was built in the 1860’s as the first public library in Springfield. Very shortly after this photo was taken, however, construction began on the new library (this happened in 1909, thus establishing the upper limit of the date range for the photo). But, rather than demolishing the old structure, and to allow the library to function while the new building was being constructed, the old one was moved directly back, into the present-day Quadrangle. The new library was dedicated in 1912, and the books were moved to the old one. Whether the old building was demolished right after that, or whether it was used for something else in the intervening years, I don’t know at this time.
