Sumner Avenue Springfield

Henry E. Marsh House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 96 Sumner Avenue in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:


This house was built in 1896 for Henry E. Marsh, the owner of Cooley’s Hotel in Springfield. The hotel itself was nearly as old as Marsh, having been established in 1849 by Justin M. Cooley. Marsh, who had been born in Hatfield in 1846, moved to Springfield when he was 20 and became an office boy for the hotel. From there, he worked his way up in the hotel, and eventually became a partner in the business in 1881.

Cooley retired in 1892, and Marsh took over ownership of the hotel. He subsequently enlarged it, making it one of the city’s premier hotels. It enjoyed a prominent location next to the railroad station, just north of the arch over Main Street, and by 1905 it boasted 75 rooms, which could accommodate 300 guests. The hotel also featured a restaurant, Turkish baths, and even a Western Union telegraph office.

Henry Marsh lived in this house with his wife Mary and their two sons, Phillip and Harry. Their oldest son, Edward, had died of Bright’s disease at the age of 23, a few years before this house was built. Phillip also died relatively young, at the age of 34, in 1913, with his death certificate listing diabetes as the cause of death. By 1914, Henry had retired from the hotel business, and two years later he sold this house to real estate dealer William Lay.

Both Henry and Mary died in the 1920s, and in 1929 his former hotel became the Hotel Charles, which stood at the corner of Main Street and Frank B. Murray Street until its demolition in the 1990s. However, his former mansion on Sumner Avenue has fared better over the years. By the 1930 census, it was owned by Edward L. Stoughton, the vice president and future president of Wico Electric Company. He was 39 at the time, divorced, and lived here with his two daughters, Dorothy and Marylin, who were 18 and 6 years old, respectively.

More than 120 years after the Marsh family moved into this house, it remains well-preserved. in its original condition. Many of the mansions along this section of Sumner Avenue were later demolished to build apartment blocks or other buildings, but this house still stands as a good example of late 19th century Colonial Revival architecture. Along with the rest of the neighborhood, the house is now part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Charles Teske House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 268 Sumner Avenue at the corner of Churchill Street in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:

This house was built in 1893, and was one of the earlier homes to be built in the Forest Park Heights neighborhood. It had a desirable location along Sumner Avenue, directly opposite Forest Park, and it was originally the home of Charles Teske. However, he did not live here long, because he sold the house around 1896. It does not appear to have been occupied during the 1900 census, but by 1910 it was owned by Icilius T. Alstrom, who lived here with his wife Carrie and their two sons, Albert and Harvey.

By 1915, the house had been sold again, to Bertram Craig. He lived here with his wife Catherine, their daughter Madeline, and, in later years, Madeline’s husband Richard Lovekin. During the 1930 census, they were also renting part of the house to another family for $48 per month. Catherine died later in 1930, though, and within a few years the rest of the family had moved. By the 1940 census, the house was owned by dentist Robert N. Cushman, who lived here with his sister, Emma J. Wilson. They were living here when the first photo was taken, and remained until Emma’s death in 1943 and Robert’s in 1949.

Over the years, this house has remained well-preserved, along with the houses in the background of both photos. The only significant difference is the enclosed second-story porch, but overall it is an excellent example of Queen Anne-style architecture in Forest Park. Along with the rest of the neighborhood, it is now part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Archibald M. Stone House, Springfield, Mass

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The house at 264 Sumner Avenue in Springfield, around 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Springfield Preservation Trust.

The house in 2017:


This house on Sumner Avenue was built in 1897 for Archibald M. Stone, who lived here with his wife Theresa and their son Archibald. He was listed as a traveling salesman in the 1900 census, and he lived here until about 1905. By 1910, the house was owned by Gottlieb Baer, a cigar manufacturer who had immigrated to the United States from Switzerland in the 1860s. He and his wife Theresia had six children, one of whom died young. The other five were all living here in 1910, with ages ranging from 12 to 28. Theresia died in 1914, but Gottlieb remained here into the 1920s, before moving to Longmeadow.

By 1930, the house was owned by Jacob Ginsberg, his wife Sarah, and their 25-year-old son Irving. Both Jacob and Sarah were Jewish immigrants from Poland who had come to the United States in the late 1800s, and Jacob worked as a real estate agent. Jacob died in 1938, around the time that the first photo was taken, although Sarah and Irving were still living here during the 1940 census. However, at some point during the 1940s Sarah sold this house and moved to a nearby house on Belmont Avenue.

During the mid-20th century, part of the house was converted into doctors’ offices, and the exterior was covered in siding, which removed much of the home’s original details. Despite the changes, though, the house is part of the Forest Park Heights Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

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.