Davis Sq. History Uncovered

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

While getting my morning coffee I noticed old streetcar rails at the bottom of a few potholes in front of Diva. Cool to imagine what Davis was like "back in the day".

Anyone know of old Davis or Somerville pics from the streetcar era?

Comments

[ron_newman]

Lots of old Somerville photos here. I don't know whether they are visible to people without Facebook accounts, however.

Pretty much every street that now has an MBTA bus route once had streetcars.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I'm not on FB and I can see them just fine.

ETA: You'll get nagged to log in every few photos, but nothing happens if you don't.

[siderea]

Neat! OP, here's one from Davis specifically.

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

I remember once seeing a map that showed that it was once possible to ride streetcars all the way from Providence to Nashua.

[tenshikurai9.livejournal.com]

If you ever find an online copy of that map, please post! Do you remember how old the map is?

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

Lewis Hines took some great photos in Somerville from a century ago:

http://lewishinephotographs.com/search/luceneapi_node/somerville

[ron_newman]

Wow, I had no idea these photos existed. Thanks for posting the link. They are child-labour photos, all from a very small area around Medford, South, Horace, and Ward streets (across the tracks behind Target).

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

Yea, some great shots in there, but it makes me appreciate my day job and that my kid can afford shoes!

There may be more Somerville photos at shorpy.com, I think that is where I originally found these.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

I found a few interesting streetcar links, some Davis some not.

This Wiki entry lists all the Boston area streetcar lines and when they were discontinued. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston-area_streetcar_lines

This great photo of a streetcar that I assume is on a Somerville line.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/5143466894/lightbox/ The whole archive is amazing.

And this might be the coolest, an old Edison movie taken from a Boston streetcar in 1903 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfH4Rx8Ao6A&feature=related

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

That video is amazing, i had no idea what street it was until you see the library and it all comes together.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

I think that the film shows two clips. The first seems to be going up Washington St.You can see the Jordan Marsh sign on the right very briefly. The second is Boylston as it enters Copley (at least as far as I can tell).

It looks like you really took your life in your hands crossing the streets in those days. Pretty apparent why the subway had to be created. This was also pre-automobile so no traffic lights. Must have been a free for all.