Brookline Then and Now: The Colonnade Buildings

The three Colonnade Buildings in Brookline Village have been home to businesses and residences for more than a century and a half. As these pictures show, much has changed. Businesses occupying the storefronts have come and gone, and the buildings themselves have been modified. In fact, the right-most building in the newer photo – where the Post Office is today – was not even built yet in the older photo. (That lets us date it as 1872 or 1873.) And, of course, transportation is very different. The horse-drawn car on the tracks of the Metropolitan Rail Road has given way to automobiles. (Brookline Historical Society photo from the collection of Leo Sullivan)

Ken Liss is president of the Brookline Historical Society.