1957 - Grafton Street - 2012.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

Byline: Melissa McKeon

COLUMN: THEN AND NOW

Gone from this photo (at top left) of Grafton Street in 2012 (taken from the top of the Washington Square railroad bridge) are the warehouses of the past, which fell to the wrecking ball to make way for what was then-termed the Worcester Expressway, now Interstate 290.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Worcester Expressway was built across the city. Neighborhood opposition could not stop the destruction of two schools, three synagogues, two ethnic social clubs, a fire station and the Union Station clock tower.

One Worcester landmark, barely visible at the top of the 1957 photo, remained until 1999. On Dec. 3 of that year, the then-vacant Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse building burned, taking the lives of six firefighters who were attempting to save two homeless squatters thought to be...