Looking north from Lower Washington St. Construction on the Hearthstone Plaza is in progress, the first stage of the leveling and reconstruction of the area then known as “The Marsh” by the Brookline Redevelopment Authority. Groundbreaking took place in February 1969 so the photo is late 1969/early 1970. Pearl St. is in the middle. Some buildings have already been razed for the large parking lot and the rest will be razed in the next few years. In the upper right is the large smoke stack of Brannen’s Laundry was there for 75 years and even considered to be an historic landmark of sorts when it had to be torn down in 1980.

[Courtesy of the Digital Commonwealth (CC BY-NC-ND). From the Brookline Photograph Collection published by the Public Library of Brookline]