New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It was one of the world’s leading whaling ports in the mid-19th century. At the turn of the twentieth century, when the whaling industry was declining, the economy of the city was shifted to the manufacturing and textile industry. The city was expanding outward and building upward in the form of triple-decker homes to support an ever-increasing working-class population. Along with the changing landscape, there were vast social and economic changes taking place and new waves of immigrants.
The pictures invite you on a journey through the neighborhoods and vibrant ethnic enclaves, individuals, wharves, establishments, and legendary stories that marked New Bedford in the early 20th century and provide a personal glimpse of individuals and communities that made New Bedford what it is today.
#1 Man and woman standing at the entrance to their house, built out of the hull of a ship; an ark, circa 1900
#2 New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge being repaired. Work men with bridge torn up, 1912
#3 Portrait of Rebecca Margolis and Alice Pierce, suffragettes, 1915
#4 Portuguese Navy Yard, 1905
#5 Mrs. Mann gets evicted, 1905
#6 New Bedford as a fishing port, 1907
#7 Acushnet Avenue, looking south from Campbell, 1907
#8 St. John the Baptist, burned, 1908
#9 Roger Fay’s beer truck, 1912
#10 Portrait of Alden H. Manter, old whaleman, 1914
#11 Three sail makers seated at work at Briggs & Beckmans’ Sail Loft, 1915
#12 Man balancing boxes of cranberries on his head with two other men looking on, New Bedford, 1916
#13 Penikese Island leper cottages, 1905
#14 Turner’s Court south side looking east from Acushnet Avenue, New Bedford, 1907
#15 “The Newest Little Italy” – Italians in the North End, grade crossing workers, 1907
#16 Memorial Day. Captain J.F. Howell, Fort Rodman, 1913
#17 “Barge Captain Murders and Mutilates” – barge Snipe with three boys in the foreground, 1914
#18 Tomorrow Marks 42nd Anniversary of the So Called Chapman’s Monkey Fire, New Bedford, 1918
#19 Coopers at work on oil barrels “flagging” a cask, New Bedford, 1918
#20 Edward R. Cole, last of the shipsmiths, maker of whalecraft, at the old forge in Fairhaven, New Bedford, 1910s
#21 Two young boys with a goat near the waterfront, New Bedford, 1910s
#22 “The Newest Little Italy” – Italians in the North End, grade crossing workers, 1907
#23 Market Street, south side looking east from 6th Street. Clark’s Fish Market, Hing Whang Chinese Laundry, 1907
#24 Men posed around sailboat. Lucas & Kent Boat Shop in the background, 1907
#25 Young boys in foreground posing for camera at Willis Point. Railroad in background, 1907
#26 “Greeks Observe Christmas Tomorrow in Accordance With Julian Calendar Adopted AD 321” – Greek church at Oxford, 1914
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Was this church in the north end of newbedford in vicinity of washburn street.
Curious if anyone out there knows for sure.
I eas brought up in that neighborhood..
