The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can figure out when and where this photo was taken. See it larger.
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Comments
Today's City Hall Plaza —
By anon
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:00am
Today's City Hall Plaza — Sears Crescent on the right!
The Court St and near what is
By Eastie Resident
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:06am
The Court St and near what is now Government Center
Agreed. I think it would be
By Dudley Dan
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:06am
Agreed. I think it would be looking from where Center Plaza is now
That's Scolly Square, what's
By Loosah
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:07am
That's Scolly Square, what's now govt center, about where the T station is. To the right is the Sears Crescent Building, which still stands today.
Court
By Nick
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:08am
Court St and Tremont St looking South
Cornhill St
By OrientSee
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:10am
Former Cornhill St. where Boston City Hall is now.
See another photo from 1905 from BPL at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cornhill_ca1905_...
Oh and, I'd guess early 1900s
By Eastie Resident
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:12am
Oh and, I'd guess early 1900s from the hats...
63 Court Street / Scollay Square
By Elmer
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:16am
This was a giveaway, with the 63 Court Street sign on the Sears Block; the only building still there today:
[img]http://elmercatdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/searsblock.jpg[/img]
That one was easy
By Stevil
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:17am
The Sears block (Cornhill and Brattle) next to City Hall plaza - near court Street per the sign on the top corner of the building.
Similar pic from 1905 - so guessing similar era - maybe a bit earlier - say 1895 or so.
I defer to others on
By BostonNational
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:22am
I defer to others on geography….but have to say that, "Say! Want your face took? 12 for $1.00" is advertising gold.
Took me a good half minute to figure out the meaning of the sig
By Alex_Toth
Fri, 03/21/2014 - 9:47am
Thought it said Facebook at an initial glance.
Cornhill Street
By Rich Beaubien
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:30am
outbound from Scollay Square ~1905
The left side of the street is now gone. They used many of the bricks to pave City Hall Plaza. The right side contained the Sears Crescent and the building in the foreground, the Sears Block.
It's not Cornhill Street, it
By Anon
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 3:13pm
It's not Cornhill Street, it's just Cornhill. Like how Broadway isn't Broadway Street.
Although apparently according to the city records, what's now Cornhill wasn't the first street by that name, and it was sometimes called New Cornhill, much like we'd later have area streets like New Chardon St. and New Sudbury St.
Scollay Square
By Cappy
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:35am
I think it is Scollay Square at the corner of what is Court Street and Tremont.
The teapot should be on the left.
Boston's old vaudeville district.
Am I right? Do I win?
http://cappyinboston.blogspot.com/
CORNHILL!
By BostonUrbEx
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:39am
Easy: Cornhill St.
This is easy because it was one of the coolest looking streets ever in all of Boston's history.
Ah, if only it still existed. :/ All least half of the right side still exists in the present.
The building in the front right corner....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:52am
... already looked pretty derelict (and seems to had had lots of space available "to let").
When?
By Waquiot
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 11:55am
The where is easy. I'm going with 1903 and that the photo was taken in connection with the construction of the East Boston Tunnel.
Nay
By BostonUrbEx
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 12:27pm
It appears there's some sort of construction staging or debris along the length of the street visible to us. Underneath Cornhill is an abandoned Green Line tunnel, and perhaps this was taken either during the early stages of or the finishing stages of the completion of said tunnel. I'm going to bet the former, as I don't know if the streetcar tracks were still around by the time the tunnel was wrapped up.
Abandoned Green Line tunnel?
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 12:55pm
From whence to whither?
It was the old routing of the
By greenlinetobrooklyn
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 1:22pm
It was the old routing of the trolleys from the Court St Station (Scolley Sq) to Adams Sq. See this map here: http://www.wardmaps.com/viewasset.php?aid=212
I believe the Cornhill St tunnel is now used by City Hall as a storage space
Likely Date...
By Div2Supt
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 12:51pm
The streetcar was built in May 1890 and retired in 1919. It appears to be signed for Route 48, which started on August 1, 1896. So I'm gonna say the photo was taken between August 1896 and October 1898. Tracks in Cornhill were kept active well after the subway opened; there was regular service as late as 1917, not including the Night Cars running to/from Adams Square.
You've Got It Zeroed In - Before Scollay Square Station
By Elmer
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 1:50pm
Here's a site with several historic pictures of that area. This one shows the same Sears Block building, from a slightly different angle. Clearly, the other photo was taken before the Scollay Square station was constructed.
[img=500x404]http://www.davidjrusso.com/images/brigham/Scollay_Square_Station_central_9.jpg[/img]
LONG LIVE DIVISION 2, KID!!
By bohhh
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 1:56pm
And call the Lenox desk for ya overtime detail re: Scollay closure Saturday.
Carbon Arc Street Lamps Are A Clue To The Date
By Elmer
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 1:16pm
Take a look at the street light:
[img]http://elmercatdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/...
It's a carbon arc lamp; the were the first and only form of electric street lighting, starting around the 1870's. Arc lamps had many problems, not the least of which was the constant maintenance they required. Notice in the picture, the ladder steps built onto the light pole; attendants needed to continuously climb up to adjust and replace the carbon rods as the light burned.
Incandescent street lamps were much practical and were quickly adopted, but not for another twenty years. That makes it most likely that the picture was taken before the turn of the twentieth century. It's also helpful to know that the Green Line subway at Scollay Square didn't open until 1898. I'm not sure exactly where it was, but there's no sign of it or any of the major construction its cut-and-cover tunnel would entail. My guess is the 1880's or early 1890's.
A bicycle in the photo!
By Markk02474
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 1:18pm
and no cars! I've not noticed any bicycles before in these old photos on uhub.Horses rule!
The Answer!
By City of Boston ...
Wed, 03/19/2014 - 4:15pm
Thanks for playing folks! Those of you who guessed Cornhill (near current City Hall) are correct. This photo was taken by the Transit Commission on June 16, 1897.
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