Antique City View - Boston - 34 Market Square, Clinton Johnson, photo

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Dated to about 1895, this view is tied in its record to the address 34 Market Square in Boston, a specific spot rather than a general city scene. The photograph was made by Clinton Johnson, and it shows the built fabric of the city at a time when Boston was dense with commercial buildings, horse-drawn traffic, and brick and wood structures. Late nineteenth-century city views like this one often recorded streets that would later be rebuilt, so they now serve as useful evidence of how the blocks looked before those changes. The storefronts and signage are worth a closer look, since they show how local businesses presented themselves to passersby.

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