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Merchants of Manchester: 1910

Manchester, New Hampshire, circa 1910. "Elm Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Manchester, New Hampshire, circa 1910. "Elm Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Manchester is thirstier today.

Citizen Shoe -- I think that's a bar now.
Manchester Hardware Co., probably a bar.
Magoon, Charles S. -- if it's not a bar, Magoon's is a pretty good name for one.

You get my drift. Better than it was in 1996 when I moved there, when everything was "For Rent."

Then and Now

With the assistance of the ever-so-helpful Sampson & Murdock city directory for 1906, found at the ever-so-helpful Internet Archive, I was able to work out that we’re looking at the 900 block of Elm facing north; the photographer is standing in front of City Hall (908-920 Elm).

On the west side of the street and walking away from the photographer, we find:

  • Citizen Shoe Co. (L A and H M D Trull) boots and shoes 930 Elm
  • Manchester Hardware Co. hardware, iron, steel, bicycles & agri implements 932-940 Elm
  • Magoon Charles S. auctioneer appraiser 936 Elm room 10 {C. S. Magoon Real Estate and Loans, Auctioneer and Appraiser; Short loans made on Real Estate, Furniture and Pianos, Special Terms for Selling Property at Auction; Mileage Books and Trip Tickets to Boston ... Notary Public - Telephone Connection}
  • Robie Consolidated Concrete Co. 936 Elm, room 5 {Concrete and Asphalt Pavers - Street Work a Specialty - Manufacturers of Robie’s Concrete Pavements - Dealers in Coal Tar, Pitch and Cementing Gravel}
  • Dudley Arthur W. civil hydraulic consulting engineer 936 Elm Room 13 {Steam and Electric Railroads, Water Works, Sewerage, Highways, Etc., Located and Construction Superintended, Examinations and Reports, Plans and Specifications at Short Notice - Municipal Water Supply and Water Power Development a Specialty - N. E. Telephone Connection}
  • Brown & Burpee (Geo H Brown, W.E. Burpee) consulting opticians 940 Elm cor. Stark {Ten thousand satisfied patrons recommend our glasses, also 30 North Main St., Concord, N. H.}
  • Chamberlin Susan A Mrs boarding house 944 Elm
  • Goodwin Elmer D. mortician 946 Elm and 4 and 5 Stark

Moving over to the right (east) side of the street, again moving away from the phographer:

  • Rosenblum Samuel clothing 917 Elm [presumably women’s clothing; nine women listed as milliners work at this address]
  • Manchester Tea Co provisions 923 Elm
  • Barton William H baker 925 Elm
  • Dodge George W Shoe Co boots and shoes 931 Elm
  • Bee Hive, Clark Bros props millinery fancy goods etc 937 and 941 Elm
  • Clark Bros (George M and Charles C) fancy goods 937 and 941 Elm
  • Wingate Charles B boots and shoes 947 Elm
  • Wathen A T clothing 951 Elm corner Amherst {Custom Clothing, Full Dress Suits to Let, Repairing and Pressing Neatly Done, Mileage Books to Let, Corner Elm and Amherst Streets Telephone 251-4}

Most of the buildings are still there and relatively undisturbed today.

To the northwest, Manchester Hardware is now Pearson’s Jewelry; upstairs offices have been converted to apartments. Someone slathered a tedious stucco façade over the original brick front. The optician’s has become a Ben & Jerry’s. Mrs. Chamberlin’s boarding house rooms are walk-up offices. Goodwin’s undertakers is now a pizza joint.

Looking northeast, it’s observable that the tea company has turned into a copy shop; Dodge’s Shoes is a bar, Clark Brothers has morphed into a board-game pub and bar, with a perfectly hideous façade cover-up that all right-thinking people should assault with pitchforks and billhooks. Wathen’s Clothing (which I believe to be the source of the “Everything Must Go” sign barely visible) has decided it likes being an Indian restaurant.

Elm Street Today

From Google Maps

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9914005,-71.4630468,3a,88.6y,8.35h,86.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sOuCcXVEUf8SW67_YRzR3kA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

The corner business on Spring and Elm is now a Ben and Jerry's. The building is the same. It has lost a bit of its charm, though.

[This might be a good time to learn how to embed a Google Street View! - Dave]

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