Borden Case Image Galleries

These fifteen galleries include images related to the Borden family, the Borden murder case of 1892, Fall River, Massachusetts, and the Victorian era in Fall River and the surrounding area.

Lizzie Borden Images

: Lizzie Borden as a child.

: Lizzie Borden as a young girl.

: Lizzie Borden as a young girl.

: Lizzie Borden as a young girl.

: Lizzie Borden c. 1877

: Lizzie Borden c.1892

: Lizzie Borden c.1892

: Lizzie Borden after her trial in 1893.

: Lizzie Borden after 1900.

: Lizzie Borden late in life.

NOT Lizzie Borden Images

It boggles the mind how anyone could mistake these ladies for Lizzie Borden, but they have. Several have even been put up at auction as such. And others have been for sale on ebay. Since several books have been written in the past few years that include one of the images below and call her Lizzie Borden, a watermark is now included on each so as to not confuse would-be authors or publishers.

Lizzie Borden Case Artifacts

: Lizzie Borden arrest record from the Fall River Police Department

: Lizzie Borden arrest record from the Fall River Police Department

: Defense attorney and former Governor of Massachusetts, George Dexter Robinson, Prosecuting Attorneys Hosea Knowlton, and William Moody, in a Boston Globe artist’s rendering.

: Photograph of the courtroom at the New Bedford Superior Court where the Lizzie Borden trial was held in June of 1893.

: Handcuffs, c. 1890s.

: Lizzie/Elsie Borden Cartoon by artist Bill Kelly, used here with his permission.

: Artist’s depiction of Emma from the Boston Globe, June 17, 1893, at Lizzie’s Trial.

: Food pail and stool from Lizzie’s jail cell. Now in the Fall River Historical Society.

: Artist’s depiction of the Borden servant, Bridget Sullivan, from the Boston Globe, June 8, 1893.

: Portion of the indictment and verdict in the Lizzie Borden case.

: “The Last Scene of the Great Lizzie Borden Trial.” Lizzie stands at right as the verdict of non guilty is read.

: Authenticated Lizzie Borden signature.

: Cover of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly, one of dozens of papers covering the Trial of the Century.

: Page 1 of letter to a neighbor regarding a noisy bird. Letter is in a private collection after being purchased at auction.

: Page 2 of letter to a neighbor regarding a noisy bird. The owner of the bird in question lived directly across the street from Maplecroft. It is unknown what bred of bird was so noisy, or where the bird was kept that it bothered Lizzie so.

: Lizzie Borden’s signature from her Fall River Public Library card. Note the use of the new name “Lizbeth”, which would date this card to sometime after 1904.

: Lizzie Borden signature from library card

: Lizzie Borden on trial, drawn from life by Louis F. Grant.

: Stock transactions showing signatures of Andrew, Lizzie, and Emma Borden

: Stock transactions showing signatures of Andrew, Lizzie, and Emma Borden

: Sketch of Lizzie Borden from the Boston Globe as she appeared in court of June of 1893.

: Stock certificate issued to Lizzie Borden for 9 shares in the Troy Cotten and Woolen Manufactory

: First day cover of Lizzie Borden postcard, commissioned to celebrate the 1992 Centennial Lizzie Borden Conference in Fall River, MA.

: The Lizzie Borden trial, as depicted in the Illustrated American, June 1893.

: The Lizzie Borden trial, as depicted in the Illustrated American, June 1893.

: “The Swoon Heard Round the World.” An artist’s depiction of Lizzie Borden fainting as the skulls of her father and stepmother are shown to the jury as evidence. Neither sisters were informed that the heads had been removed and the flesh boiled off until this day.

: J. Duthie, “The Village Elms, Sunday Morning in New England”- circa 1878. A print of this artwork was hanging above the couch in the sitting room, over the place of Andrew Borden’s demise. After painstaking investigation, the blurry image from the crime scene photograph was definitively identified as this work by historians Len Rebello and Bill Pavao.

92 Second Street in 1892

The images below are a mix of original photographs and cropped versions to highlight certain areas of the house and property that is interesting. The images come from books on the case and collections that are in private hands.

: 92 Second Street c. 1892

: Well at 92 Second Street, barn is to the right.

: South side yard at 92 Second Street

: North side of 92 Second Street

: Back yard of 92 Second Street

: Looking south east at 92 Second Street

: Looking south toward 92 Second Street

: Back of house as seen from yard

: Back fence and infamous wood pile

: Looking north east to 92 Second Street

: South side of 92 Second Street

: 92 Second Street

: 92 Second Street

: 92 Second Street

: Close up of cellar door

: Dr. Bowen house

: 92 Second Street

: Barn side door

: Barn side door

: Back of house and barn

: South side of Borden property

: Back yard from house/barn walkway

92 Second Street After 1892

One of the reasons why the house where Andrew and Abby Borden were slain is still there and has not been torn down was because there was a business attached to the structure. In the 1940s, it was Kewpie Doll factory. Later, that building became the Leary Press. The current owners of the B&B demolished that structure and restored the grounds to grass. The images in this section come from many different places, including the early days of the Internet. The dates of the photos are estimated, and mostly assumed from the clothing styles or automobile make and model. If you find a mistake, please contact the webmaster and a correction will be made.

: 92 Second Street, c.1940

: Note intact barn, unknown date

: 1950s

: 1996

: 1997

: Postcard from the 1970s

: 1995

: 1950s

: 1996

: Unknown date

: 1940s

92 Second Street in its B&B Years

The Outside of the Property

92 Second Street opened as a bed and breakfast in 1996, after existing as a private residence in all of the years previously. These photos of the outside of 92 Second Street span many years. The tan color of the original B&B was replaced with a drab green in 2005, after the current owners (LeeAnn Wilbur and Donald Woods) had the Leary Press building demolished in April of that year. You can estimate the year of an image of the house by its color and by the signage outside.

: 92 Second Street after 2012

: 92 Second Street after 2012

: 92 Second Street, 2003, the shutters on either side of door protect windows

: 92 Second Street, 2003

: 92 Second Street, 2003, pear tree planted in front yard

: 92 Second Street, 2003, with pear tree in front yard

: 92 Second Street 2003, north side entrance. From here, Lizzie Borden called for Miss Churchill to “come quick.”

: 92 Second Street, 2003, the roof over the steps is not original to the house

: 92 Second Street 2003, north side

: 92 Second Street 2003, north side with Leary Press attached

: 92 Second Street 2003

: 92 Second Street 2003

: 92 Second Street 2003

: 92 Second Street 2003

: 92 Second Street 2003, with Leary Press attached

: 92 Second Street 2003, front door

: 92 Second Street after 2012

: 92 Second Street, c.1997

: 92 Second Street, c.1997

The First Floor

The images in this collection were taken by John Clark in 2003 on his visit to the house and Stefani Koorey during various visits. We thank John and Stefani for their gracious contributions to this website.

: The front door from inside.

: The dining room

: The dining room

: Looking into the dining room from the kitchen

: The infamous couch from the dining room doorway

: Front foyer

: Front foyer to the right upon entrance

: Front foyer to the right upon entrance

: The front door and stairs

: The original three locks

: The front door from the third step of the stairs

: The front door

: Looking into the sitting room from the foyer

: Looking down the hall to side door from the kitchen

: The kitchen stove (not original to the house)

: The infamous key on the mantle in the sitting room

: The first floor parlor

: The first floor parlor

: Piano in the first floor parlor

: First floor parlor

: First floor parlor

: First floor parlor

: First floor parlor

: Sitting room on first floor

: Sitting room on first floor

: Looking to foyer (left) and parlor (right) from sitting room

: Looking to foyer (left) and sitting room (right) from parlor

: Side door from kitchen hallway

: Parlor on first floor

: Sitting room on first floor

: Sitting room closet on first floor

: Fireplace in sitting room

: Looking to foyer (left) and parlor (right) from sitting room

: The sitting room couch (reproduction)

: Sitting room closet

: Sitting room with couch, door on right leads to kitchen

: The scene of Andrew Borden’s murder

: Looking to the stairs from the sitting room

The Second Floor

On the second floor of the Borden house is located the guest bedroom (also used as Lizzie and Emma’s sitting room), Lizzie and Emma’s bedrooms, and Andrew and Abby’s bedroom. As is quite common in Fall River, there are no hallways in this house. Each room opens onto another, necessitating locked doors for privacy’s sake.

: Beginning the ascent to the second floor

: From the 11th step, looking into the guest bedroom

: From the 11th step, looking into the guest bedroom

: From the top of the stairs looking into the guest bedroom

: Looking back down the front stairs

: Looking back down the front stairs

: The guest room bed, the murder of Abby Borden occurred on the left of this bed

: The dresser to the left of the bed in the guest room

: The dresser from the sitting room bed

: Location of the killing of Abby Borden

: Where Abby Borden’s body was discovered

: Looking back to the doorway leading into the guest room

: A corner of the guest room

: Guest room door

: Lizzie Borden room

: Lizzie Borden room (not original furniture)

: Lizzie Borden room with doorway to Andrew and Abby’s room

: Lizzie Borden room, south wall

: Lizzie Borden room, south wall

: Emma Borden room, the smallest in the house

: Emma Borden room with window

: Looking into Andrew and Abby’s room from Lizzie Borden’s room

: Andrew and Abby Borden’s room

: Andrew and Abby Borden’s room (not original furniture)

: Andrew and Abby Borden’s bedroom

: Hallway leading to back stairs from Andrew and Abby’s bedroom

The Third Floor

During 1892, the third floor was mostly used for storage and was the location of Bridget Sullivan’s room. It is now several bedrooms for guests.

: Stairs leading up to third floor

: Bedroom located on the front of the third floor

: Bridget Sullivan’s room, located in the east of the house, overlooking the back yard

Cover Art

The images below were collected over many years and are from many different sources. Some of the books, magazines, videos, and music CDs represented below are now out of print, but not impossible to obtain if you are patient. To do a book search for out of print or used titles use Bookfinder.com. To purchase new copies of titles you might use Amazon.com, eBay.com, or the Fall River Historical Society. You might also post a request on this web site in the Lizzie Borden Gift Shop section or join the Lizzie Borden Society Forum and post your request there as well. As always, if you have any images not on this page from the covers of books related to this case, we welcome them for inclusion in this gallery.

The Worst Fire in Fall River

The “worst fire in Fall River’s history” began at 5:45 PM on February 2, 1928. A newspaper employee was the first to spot the blaze in the back of the Pocasset Mill. The old mill was being dismantled and the workmen had recently quit work for the day.

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Fall River Legend

Agnes George deMille – (1905-1993), choreographer, was born in New York City. DeMille’s career as a choreographer began in 1929 with The Black Crook. In 1943 she worked as choreographer for the landmark musical Oklahoma!, in which dance both added to the dramatic atmosphere and also, for the very first time in American theatrical history, was instrumental in advancing the story line of the play. In 1948, while working for the New York City Ballet Theatre, she created The Fall River Legend, a full-length ballet based on the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, in which Lizzie is pegged as the culprit. deMille also choreographed One Touch of Venus (1943), Carousel (1945), Brigadoon (1947), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949), Paint Your Wagon (1951), The Girl in Pink Tights (1954), and 110 in the Shade (1963). Among her several books was Lizzie Borden: A Dance of Death (1968), in which she detailed her investigation into the Borden murders of 1892 and explored her approach to the creation of the ballet based on the crimes. DeMille died in her home in New York City on October 7, 1993.

The following selection of images are of Nora Kaye, the ballerina who portrayed Lizzie Borden in deMille’s Fall River Tragedy. It appears that these striking photos were taken for publicity purposes in 1948.

Fall River Photographs

: Entrance to Oak Gove Cemetery

: Central Congregational Church

: The Wilber Hotel, North Main Street

: McWhirr and Company, South Main

: View south west from the former City Hall

: Troy Store

: South Main Street

: Fall River and the Taunton River from Somerse

: South Main Street

: Globe Four Corners

: Corner of South Main and Pocasset Streets

: Slade’s Ferry Bridge

: Second Street looking south

: North Main Street, Granite Block on left

: Ruggles Park

: Ruggles Park

: South Main Street

: Rock Street

: Rock Street

: Rock Street

: Plymouth Avenue, looking north west

: Old Police Station, since torn down

: First Cotton Mill

: Oak Grove Cemetery and the Braga Bridge

: North Main Street, Granite Block

: Early photograph of town hall, what later would be expanded to be City Hall

: Main Street, 1889

: Main Street in front of City Hall

: Main Street

: Fall River, circa 1916

: Main and Bedford Streets in 1892

: Rodman Street, looking north west

: Fall River looking north

: Locust Street and the south east corner of Oak Grove Cemetery

: Lincoln Avenue

: Borden Lighthouse at the mouth of the Taunton River

: James Brayton house on Highland Avenue

: Fall River Iron Works

: Highland Avenue

: The former BMC Durfee High School, now the Fall River Trial Court

: The former Fall River Superior Court House.

: Fall River

: Fall River Historical Society

: Fall River Historical Society

: French Street

: The former Fall River District Courthouse

: Aerial view of Fall River during the construction of the Braga Bridge.

: Fall River, south of 195, looking west.

: South Main Street in 1896

: South Main Street

: Fall River, 1883

: Early view of North Main Street

: Early view of South Main Street looking north

: Old City Hall looking north, 1960

: Fall River from Somerset

: Old City Hall

: Old City Hall before it was torn down to make way for I-195

: City Hall looking north

: Circus parade on Bedford Street in 1888

: Borden Mills

: Borden Lighthouse in the Taunton River

: The AJ Borden Building at North Main and Anawan Streets

: The Academy of Music, also known as the Borden Block

: Bedford Street, looking west

: Bardol residence, 1911

: Fall River looking west and the Taunton River

: 92 Second Street, circa 1892

: Central Congregational Church

: Central Congregational Church

Fall River Postcards

Fall River Photolog

May 2003, by Sherry Chapman

This collection of images was taken by resident Borden hurmorist Sherry Chapman on her recent visit to Fall River to do research for her non-fiction book on the Borden murders. We are grateful she has allowed us to share them with you. I think you will see unique views of familiar landmarks and a few photographs of buildings related to the case and its characters that have not before been made public. Thank you Sherry!

92 Second Street

AJ Borden Building

Bristol County Registry of Deeds

Fall River Historical Society

Maplecroft

The Borden Farmhouse in Swansea, MA, 2003

Maplecroft Through the Years

Nance O’Neil

Born, Oct 8, 1874 – Oakland, CA
Died, Feb 7, 1965 – Englewood, NJ

A major stage star who played Lady Macbeth, Hedda Gabler, and Camille, the tall (nearly six feet) Nance O’Neil was reportedly the lover of murderess Lizzie Borden [note: LB was acquitted of the murder of Andrew and Abby and her lesbian relationship with Nance is unsubstantiated]. A notorious spendthrift always in financial trouble, O’Neil was one of the first of her generation of actresses to embrace motion pictures. Signing with producer William Fox, she starred in a 1915 screen version of Leo Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata. Although receiving favorable reviews, the veteran star was somewhat upstaged by the colorful Theda Bara, and it was Bara who would become Fox’s major dramatic star, not the aging O’Neil. The latter continued to appear in films through 1917 — including playing the Czarina in The Fall of the Romanoffs — but moviegoers never truly warmed up to her and she returned to the stage. O’Neil was back in the new, audible Hollywood by 1929, supporting John Gilbert and Catherine Dale Owen in the ill-fated His Glorious Night. Neither Gilbert nor Owen had much future in sound films, but O’Neil lent her considerable presence to scores of early talkies, including appearing as the mother superior in Call of the Flesh, the Grand Mere in Their Mad Moment (1931), and unbilled as Mrs. Von Stael in Westward Passage. Nance O’Neil was briefly the wife of actor Alfred Hickman (1872-1931). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide, http://www.allmovie.com/

Oak Grove Cemetery, the Borden Graves

Oak Grove Cemetery, Fall River, Bristol County, Massachusetts. Lat: 41°42’24″N, Lon: 071°08’15″W

Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River, Massachusetts, is the final resting place for the Borden family. Here are many images of the plots and grounds. Special thanks goes to John Clark for these marvelous photos.