By adamg on Thu., 5/5/2022 - 11:02 am 
In 1843, William Sharp created this lithograph of a Boston street scene, specifically, Tremont Street, looking past the Park Street Church and Boston Common on the right.
From the BPL arts department. Posted under this Creative Commons license.
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Then and now
By Gary C
Thu, 05/05/2022 - 1:05pm
Maybe things haven't changed that much. Looks like people camped out begging for alms.
/snark
Gorgeous lithograph, but...hE
By anon
Thu, 05/05/2022 - 1:13pm
If the people in this litho could see what that area looks like today they'd be spinning in their graves.
The lack of safe places to play with your dog!
By SwirlyGrrl
Fri, 05/06/2022 - 5:54pm
Not to mention all the cars moving at what would be a terrifying pace to people of the era.
Because we all *just know* that there was no poverty or drug abuse in 1843, of course!
Why doesn't it look like that today?
By anon
Thu, 05/05/2022 - 3:00pm
What happened to the gates and trees? Removed for subway construction in 1897? https://goo.gl/maps/6aTbwoPzuvzaQ6xS7
From the looks of it..,
By Ward8Mahatma
Thu, 05/05/2022 - 10:07pm
….those are elms in the lithograph, so the answer would be Dutch Elm disease not to mention pesky things like hurricanes and blizzard/ice storms
Pre-WW2
By John Costello
Fri, 05/06/2022 - 10:25am
The Common had a lot more fencing.
In the war effort a lot was taken down for scrap. Reportedly it ended up being dumped and not used.
There still are a lot of elms
By anon
Fri, 05/06/2022 - 12:31pm
There still are a lot of elms in the Common and Public Garden.
If these trees did die from disease, why weren't they replaced?
Probably were…
By Ward8Mahatma
Tue, 05/17/2022 - 12:35pm
… before anyone knew about the Dutch Elm. Yes, there are elms still but I think only a few are American Elms which form a characteristic group archway when planted in lines across from each other. Construction of the subway permanently eliminated any possibility for trees in that area, because of the tunnel, so the whole stretch from Park to Boylston was paved. The two oldest elms are on either side of the Shaw Memorial on Beacon across from the State House and purportedly planted by John Hancock
https://connecticuthistory.org/a-beautiful-and-goo...
Ah!
By Div2Supt
Thu, 05/05/2022 - 3:18pm
I awoke from a dream this morning wondering how I might find the oldest tree in a given neighborhood without harming any trees {i.e. examining bark, branches, foliage, etc.} and to see this snapshot of Park Street before the subway...
ϘΆΙΑ Die Göttin-Väderin shall be visiting soon. I wonder if I could convince her to don a bonnet... Maybe a style to complement her Doc Martens...
Afterwards we might sup upon baked scrod, enjoy some Medford rum at Wilde's and catch a late-night one-horse omnibus {not "shay"} outta the city...
Brimstone Corner
By Peanut
Thu, 05/05/2022 - 8:49pm
The original painting the lithograph is based on is at the Mass. Historical Society; https://www.masshist.org/database/1697.
They also hold another one of the artist’s Boston street scene paintings that also became popular as a lithograph: https://www.masshist.org/database/1696.
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