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Horses used to be everywhere in Boston
By adamg on Wed, 10/04/2023 - 12:12pm
The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.
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The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this scene. See it larger.
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Echo Hall
Echo Hall is the clue here.
Just not finding much in my quick searches.
If I had to throw a dart at something to give an answer... I'd say this is Tremont Street near Park Street, around 1896 (or before).
Some searches suggest that Echo Hall was the hall previously on the site of the Orpheum Theater.
Horses used to everywhere
Yeah, back in the day, horse shit was everywhere in Boston.
Now, it’s just mainly in and around the State house and City Hall.
While horse carts aren't the
While horse carts aren't the same thing as cars and small trucks, there have always been wheeled conveyances of this size for moving goods and people around the city. Not every trip can be made by foot, transit, or bicycle. People who want to ban motor vehicles from certain areas seem to forget that.
That's nice, dear.
That's nice, dear.
Corner of Johnson Av and Main St, Charlestown
Classified ads in the Boston Globe in 1899 mention spiritual meetings held at Echo Hall at 1 Johnson Av in Charlestown, on the corner of Main Street. By 1900, the Echo Hall spiritual meetings had moved to 32 Lincoln St, and by 1901, they were at 321 Main St.
Here is a map from the 1892 Charlestown Bromley Atlas on MapJunction. The photo appears to have been taken looking south from the corner of Hathon Sq.
Johnson Ave was never much of a street - just one block long. To the extent it exists at all anymore, it's in the form of this pedestrian walkway in the shopping plaza across Main Street from Hathon Sq.
Charlestown is further suggested by the laundry horse cart in front of W.F. Libby advertising a Chelsea location.
Charlestown?
A Google search reveals 3 archived newspaper articles from 1899-1901, describing spiritual meetings held at Echo Hall in Charlestown. Unfortunately the citations are to OCR transcriptions and I can't get an image of the full page due to a paywall.
This also looks like the kind of architecture I would expect in parts of Charlestown in that era. There wouldn't be any wooden buildings like this on Tremont St. in town, or in the South End.
Abundant parking
Abundant parking used to be everywhere in Boston
There is far more parking in that location today, than back then
If you look closely at the then and now map data linked by jptravis, you'll see that two blocks were obliterated and turned in to a 132,000 square foot parking lot.
The Answer
Thanks for playing, folks! This is indeed Main Street at the corner of Johnson Ave in Charlestown. The photo was taken in 1900
Love the game @Boston City
Love the game @Boston City Archives.
Seems like there wasn't much architectural diversity in Boston except for places of worship and schools up until the 1900's.