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Merchants of Manchester: 1910

Merchants of Manchester: 1910

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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