Third Mt.Tom Summit House

After fire destroyed the second Summit House in 1929 (the first house was also destroyed by fire in 1901),  a third house was built just north of where the first two houses stood.  It was nowhere near as majestic as the previous houses, just a simple steel frame and corrugated metal sided structure. The house remained open until 1936 when trolley service along with the Mt. Tom Railroad ceased operation, and stood until 1939 when it was scrapped along with the incline rail line.  All that remains today of the third house is a concrete stairway and the concrete foundation blocks on which the house rested upon.

A visitor to Mt. Tom stands in front of the third Summit House in June of 1934. (Seminole Bailey Archive)

Before Amtrak....

Central Vermont Engine 231 travels north near Smiths Ferry in the late 1930s. Passenger service ran through Holyoke up until the early 1970s with the old Montrealer line and has now returned with Amtrak's rail service. (Seminole Bailey Archive)

The Orient Restaurant

Dubbed "Holyoke's Restaurant Beautiful", The Orient was a Chinese-American restaurant located at 515-519 Dwight Street downhill across from the City Hall. This photo, from the early 1930s, shows the trolley tracks and cobblestone that was paved over in the early 1940s after the demise of the trolley lines. (Seminole Bailey Archive)

New England Hurricane September, 1938

The flooding of the Connecticut River at the Holyoke/Chicopee line in the wake of the hurricane that hit the area on September 21. 1938. 

 Looking west towards Holyoke from the B&M Railroad bridge showing flooding water almost level with the Willimansett Bridge.

This photo taken from the Willimansett side of the Connecticut River showing water level at the B&M Railroad bridge. Notice the the coal cars on the bridge, probably there to help break the strong current if water was to rise that high.

Another view looking west toward the National Blank Book showing the power of the flooding waters. Notice the waves crashing into the railroad bridge.

This photo taken at the eastern end of the B&M Railroad bridge near Willimansett looking southwest towards the Willimansett Bridge. (photos courtesy of the Seminole Bailey Archive)