Then and Now: 8 Hartford Terrace, Springfield, Massachusetts

In 1927, the Luthgren family --  Adolph, Christina, and their 4 daughters, Edna, Millie, Marion, and Genevieve -- moved into their newly constructed home at 8 Hartford Terrace in the East Forest Park subdivision.  This neighborhood, located 3 miles from the downtown business district, pushed the city limits of Springfield to the east.  I'm not sure when the two black-and-white photos were taken.

Note the house to the left of 8 Hartford Terrace in the above photo.  (You can see a very small corner section .)  Edna, the oldest of the sisters, lived here from the early 1940s to the early 1960s.  Her husband Walter died in 1957.  In 1954, the same year that Genevieve, the youngest sister, got married, Adolph and Christina moved to the suburbs -- East Longmeadow.  After Christina died in 1961, Edna and Adolph both sold their homes and moved into a two-bedroom ranch at 37 Derryfield Avenue.

8 Hartford Terrace at Homesnap.  The 1,920-square-foot house is valued at $163,000.  The neighborhood is not what is used to be.  Neither is the city of Springfield, for that matter.

Walk Score:  38 out of 100, although I remember Mom reminiscing about walking to the Forest Park Branch of the Springfield City Library on a regular basis, a distance of 1.4 miles one way.   Although her dad remained employed by the Post Office throughout the Depression, the Luthgrens did not own a car until well after Mom graduated from high school in 1938.