COLLECTION OF PHOTOS, WE ARE
GETTING A INTERESTING LOOK AT
THEN AND NOW.
SEAN: IF YOU WERE TO LOOK AT
THIS PHOTO FROM THE 1970'S OF
MANCHESTER, WOULD YOU RECOGNIZE
THAT SAME PLACE TODAY?
HOW ABOUT THIS ONE?
IT'S NOT SO EASY, IS IT?
THE REASON -- IN JUST A FEW
SHORT DECADES, MANCHESTER HAS
CHANGED.
IN YOUR LIFETIME, HOW MUCH HAS
THE CITY TRANSFORMED PHYSICALLY?
ROB: PHYSICALLY, IT'S
INCREDIBLE.
YOU WOULDN'T RECOGNIZE IT.
SEAN: LOCAL HISTORIAN ROBERT
PERREAULT KNOWS MANCHESTER.
HE GREW UP HERE.
HE ALSO WANTS PEOPLE TO REMEMBER
THE CITY HE USED TO KNOW.
ROB: IF YOU HAD LEFT MANCHESTER
IN THE 1950'S AND YOU CAME BACK
TODAY, YOU'D HAVE TROUBLE
, I THINK, RECOGNIZING CERTAIN
PLACES.
SEAN: ROBERT HAS TAKEN MANY
PICTURES OVER THE YEARS AND PUT
THEM IN HIS LATEST BOOK, "IMAGES
OF MODERN AMERICA: MANCHESTER,"
LOOKING AT LIFE FROM 1971-2005.
ARE YOU AFRAID THAT SOME OF THIS
WILL GET FORGOTTEN?
ROB: WELL, THAT'S WHY I DO WHAT
I DO, PUT OUT BOOKS LIKE THIS,
SO THAT PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER.
SEAN: MOST PEOPLE ARE FAMILIAR
WITH THE INTERSECTION OF GRANITE
AND MAIN ON THE CITY'S WEST
SIDE.
BUT MANY DON'T KNOW THIS USED TO
BE CLAPP'S CORNER.
NAMED FOR AN 1870'S STORE OWNER
WHO BUILT IT, IT FEATURED A
LARGE CURVED BUILDING WITH
BUSINESSES OUT FRONT AND
APARTMENT PORCHES IN THE BACK.
ROB: YOU KNOW, YOU SEE THE BACK,
AND IT'S ALL THESE STAIRWAYS AND
PORCHES LINING THE WHOLE THING,
WITH CLOTHES HANGING AND THAT
SORT OF THING.
VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE FACADE.
THE FACADE WAS A NICE ULBRICH
FACADE -- NICE OLD BRICK FACADE
THAT ROUNDED THE CORNER.
SEAN: IT WAS TORN DOWN IN THE
1980'S AND IS NOW KNOWN AS
GRANITE SQUARE.
MOST OF US HAVE TAKEN A DRIVE
DOWN COMMERCIAL STREET IN
MANCHESTER'S MILL YARD.
DID YOU KNOW, UP UNTIL THE
1970'S, PART OF THIS STREET WAS
STILL A WATER-FILLED CANAL?
THEY USED TO POWER THE MILLS.
ROB: WATER WOULD DROP UNDERNEATH
THE MILLS AND TURN THE TURBINES
FOR ALL THE MACHINERY.
SEAN: DO YOU RECOGNIZE THIS
DOWNTOWN INTERSECTION?
YOU'VE PROBABLY BEEN HERE.
ROB: THE RADISSON HOTEL WOULD BE
RIGHT HERE NOW.
YOU ARE JUST GOING RIGHT IN
FRONT OF IT.
THIS STILL EXISTS.
SEAN: BACK IN THE 1970'S,
FRANKLIN STREET WENT RIGHT
THROUGH WHERE THE RADISSON HOTEL
LOBBY IS TODAY.
AND THE GREEN SPACE OUT FRONT
ONCE HAD STORES AND EVEN A
SCHOOL, WHICH ARE NOW
MEMORIALIZED NOW IN STONE.
HERE WE ARE AT THE CORNER OF
BEECH AND ORANGE.
ROB: RIGHT.
SEAN: TO ME THIS LOOKS LIKE THE
CURRIER MUSEUM.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT IS NOW THE
BACK OF THE CURRIER MUSEUM.
THIS NEW SPACE WAS BUILT OVER
THE OLD FACADE.
ROB: IN THE OLD DAYS YOU WOULD
ENTER ON THIS SIDE.
YEAH, THIS WAS THE FRONT
ENTRANCE.
AT ONE TIME, THIS WAS BALDWIN
STREET.
SEAN: NEXT ROBERT TOOK US TO
WHAT IS NOW ELM STREET AND WALL
STREET.
DID YOU KNOW THIS CORNER USED TO
HOUSE AN OLD MOVIE THEATER?
ROB: THE STATE THEATER WAS
THERE.
THE STATE THEATER WAS BUILT IN
1929 IN THE ART DECO STYLE.
IN FACT, IT WAS CONSIDERED TO BE
BEST EXAMPLE OF ART DECO
ARCHITECTURE NORTH OF BOSTON.
SEAN: COMPETITION DROVE IT OUT
BUSINESS, AND DESPITE EFFORTS TO
SAVE IT, THE STATE THEATER WAS
TORN DOWN.
THE ONLY SURVIVING REMNANT --
HOW BIG IS THAT?
ROB: IT'S HUGE.
SEAN: THE LARGE HEAD THAT SAT
ATOP OF THE OLD THEATER IS NOW
ON THE CAMPUS OF SAINT ANSELM
COLLEG
ROB: THE FALLING OF THE BRIDGE,
IT JUST SHOOK THE GROUND.
IT WAS SO LOUD AND IT JUST SHOOK
THE GROUND.
SEAN: PERHAPS ONE OF THE MOST
ICONIC CHANGES IN RECENT TIMES,
REMOVING THE OLD NOTRE DAME
BRIDGE.
ROB: OF ALL THE HISTORIC
MONUMENTS AND MARKERS IN
MANCHESTER, THAT NOTRE DAME
BRIDGE WAS WHAT RALLIED MORE
PEOPLE TOGETHER THAN ANYTHING TO
TRY AND SAVE IT.
WHEN THEY TORE IT DOWN, THERE
WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE.
SEAN: IT WAS TORN DOWN IN 1989
AND REPLACED WITH THE TWO SPANS
OF THE BRIDGE STREET BRIDGE WE
KNOW TODAY.
ROBERT WAS THERE THAT DAY IN THE
CROWD, WATCHING THE
MODERNIZATION OF A CITY.
AND WATCHING ANOTHER PIECE OF
WHAT WAS DISAPPEAR INTO THE
PAST.
ROB: CHANNEL 9 NEWS INTERVIEWED
MY SON.
HE WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD AND HE
SAID -- THEY SAID, WHAT DO YOU
THINK OF ALL THIS, AND HE SAYS
--
>> I WAS SAD.
>> WHY?
>> BECAUSE IT WAS MY FAVORITE
BRIDGE.
ROB: THE WHOLE THEME IN THIS
BOOK IS LOOK AT ALL THE STUFF WE
LOST IN SUCH A SHORT TIME.
ARE WE GOING TO CONTINUE?
ARE WE GOING TO CONTINUE TEARING
STUFF DOWN, YOU KNOW?