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Hurd on the street
By adamg on Thu, 01/04/2018 - 9:45am
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.
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Washington St, South End
Washington St, South End
State Street?
State Street?
1241 washington
Google is my friend
Yes, too easy.
"W J Hurd Boston"
Pre-elevated
Whenever you see high street numbers like that, it really limits it to a handful of streets.
Possibly 1896?
Currently Site of Peter's Park
I'm guessing sometime around turn of century. Seems to have been a sort of auto-mile later in early 20th. One time location of importer of sponges and chamois for auto industry and older buildings across the street appear to be former auto-related businesses. https://books.google.com/books?id=J8syAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA370&lpg=PA370&dq=124...
Washington Street scene ca. 1915
The 1905 city directory lists William J. Hurd as a dealer in "fancy goods" at 1241 Washington Street and Charles P. Hurley & Co. as a liquor store at 1128 and 1251 Washington St.
Too simple
There aren't many streets in Boston with numbers that go up to 1200, and even fewer that would have been built up with architecture like this a century ago. As others have already pointed out, Washington St., South End, the site of Peters Park today. According to old atlases, the side street by the pharmacy was Medford Court. Probably one of a series of photos taken in the late 1890s to document what things looked like just before the Elevated railway was built.
I especially like the girl and her dog, and the woman looking out the third-floor window. Plus you can mail a letter right there at the lamppost.
that would be where Peter's
that would be where Peter's Park now stands in the So. End??
The Answer!
Thanks for playing, folks!
This is indeed 1241 Washington Street. The date is October 11, 1899.
We really like this photo because there are Bostonians in it! Many of the photos in our collection don't include people. This particular photo is part of a set taken to document the city's streetscape. The photographers purposely photographed during times when there weren't many people present. They wanted a clear view of the city's built environment - and they didn't want people blocking that view!
Interesting
One thing I've always found fascinating about Leslie Jones's photographs of car crashes is how many people there often are in them - bystanders just surveying the wreckage. Obviously, people today will stop and look, but it just seems more people did that back in the day.
But different photos for different purposes.
Beautiful Photo!!!
Beautiful Photo!!!