Porter Row before 1890

Edward H. Hart captured “Porter Row” with photography, though the exact date remains unknown. Hart was a 19th-century American artist who worked during a transformative period marked by industrialization, urbanization, and evolving social norms. This photograph invites us to consider the narratives embedded in the architectural landscape. The style of Porter Row and the adjacent church signal power, prestige, and perhaps, exclusion. Who was welcomed into these spaces, and who was not? How did gender, race, and class shape one’s access to education and religious life during Hart's time? The manicured lawn and stoic buildings evoke a sense of order and control, yet what stories lie beneath the surface? Consider the lives of those who maintained these spaces, whose labor and presence were often unseen or unacknowledged. “Porter Row” invites us to reflect on the complex layers of history and identity that shape our understanding of place.