American cities a century ago (34 photos)
1.

Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, in 1917.
2.

Atlantic City, 1910.
3.

The main street of Memphis, north of Avenue Gayoso, 1910.
4.

Station “Louisville-Nashville”, Florida, in 1910.
5.

Forsyth Street, Jacksonville, Florida, in 1910.
6.

The beach in Atlantic City, 1915.
7.

Grant Avenue after an earthquake in San Francisco in 1906.
8.

Carts for transporting dairy Thompson, Washington, 1927.
9.

Washington, DC, 1914.
10.

Cadillac Square, Detroit, Michigan, 1916.
11.

Ninth Street, Washington DC, 1915.
12.

13.

Corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, 1910.
14.

Broad Street north of Spruce Street, Philadelphia, 1905.
15.

View of Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn in 1909.
16.

Fire at 55th Street, New York, 1915.
17.

Fifth Avenue, New York, 1913.
18.

Wabash Avenue, Chicago, 1907.
19.

The New York Public Library, New York, 1915.
20.

Wall Street, New York, 1911.
21.

Fifth Avenue, New York, 1913.
22.

Manhattan, 1907.
23.

The northern part of Fifth Avenue, New York, 1913.
24.

City Hall – City Hall in New York.
25.

Dexter Avenue and the Capitol, Montgomery, Alabama, in 1906.
26.

Valnut Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1910.
27.

Washington, DC, 1913.
28.

Broadway and the building of “The Times”, New York, 1915.
29.

Size of Government in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1905.
30.

Boston, MA, 1906.
31.

New York, 1905.
32.

Grand Central Station and Hotel, Manhattan, New York, 1903.
33.

Treasury Building, Washington, DC, 1913.
34.

Post Office, Brooklyn, New York, 1906.

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Jan 09, 2013 @ 18:31:51
so beautul collection of pictures.
Jan 09, 2013 @ 20:13:00
excellent quality… post more and thanks.
Jan 09, 2013 @ 20:31:44
Thank you! post more please!
Jan 09, 2013 @ 20:46:30
Wow!
Jan 09, 2013 @ 21:49:59
these are wonderful.. Is there more?
Jan 09, 2013 @ 23:26:58
Awesome quality ! Great job !
Jan 13, 2013 @ 15:22:35
Kool love the old shots
Jan 13, 2013 @ 15:23:01
Splendid! Could we get the before/after view please?
Jan 13, 2013 @ 17:13:17
These are wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
Jan 13, 2013 @ 17:31:12
Take the time to look at these amazing cities!!The one with people in suits at Atlantic City is really an eye opener! They are great! Thanks,Heather Hume!
Jan 14, 2013 @ 05:58:09
I had a look at these wonderful buildings quite amazing really interesting….
Jan 17, 2013 @ 05:46:27
love to look at the pictures. thanks for sharing.
Jan 27, 2013 @ 05:16:42
Where do the street cars in 28, 32 and 33 get their power? There's no ovehead catenary system.
Jan 27, 2013 @ 05:17:27
Where do the street cars in photos 28, 32 and 33 get their power? There is no overhead catenary system.
Jan 31, 2013 @ 01:14:48
Great Images! I have been a historian for 50 years and have tons of maps including an 1895 atlas on my site http://www.MemorialLibrary.com.
Feb 01, 2013 @ 12:02:08
I really enjoyed loking at these pictures. Any from 1926?
Feb 01, 2013 @ 18:04:43
absolutely well done and fascinating. it's amazing how complex and sophisticated the buildings were.
Feb 04, 2013 @ 17:53:37
I , noticed no litter, our past should refect our future.
Feb 05, 2013 @ 22:00:14
Amazing. And I see the importance of landmarking. The one of Sixth Ave, Greenwich Village, aside from the fact that the elevated subway is gone, is virtually the same. This is because the whole of the Village was landmarked years ago, so the GREED monger "developers" (read: destroyers) haven't gotten their criminal mitts on it! We can still see the sky in the Village. I'm so happy I've lived here so many years. The pictures are great!
Feb 08, 2013 @ 14:01:31
I like those old pictures very much, enjoing them in front of the computer screen here in Buenos Aires.
8th february 11 o´clock.
Feb 10, 2013 @ 22:16:50
A god mass transit system as tramways in early 1900s in every major city. Cities were cleaner with lesser air pollution than now.
Feb 15, 2013 @ 17:28:22
Thank you for putting this together – great quality and a fantastic selection that provides a window on life just as automobiles were beginning to take over – one minor note: I believe that photo 24 is slightly mislabeled as "City Hall – City Hall in New York" – it is actually the old City Hall Post Office and Court House, which was demolished in 1939. The site is now part of a park just south of city hall. City Hall itself is a different building, still standing, on the north side of the park.
Feb 16, 2013 @ 01:52:59
really interesting. post more please.
Feb 16, 2013 @ 15:46:48
A wonderful look back in time.
Feb 18, 2013 @ 03:14:39
A marvelous look into the past. Very enjoyable.
Feb 18, 2013 @ 05:07:22
These photos are so awesome! The architecture is fantastic. Looking at the clothing, men wearing hats, and even the clothing on the beach makes you realize just how casual we have become. Thanks for sharing.
Apr 06, 2013 @ 04:49:45
Even Detroit looked good back then !!
Feb 19, 2013 @ 00:10:13
magnifacent.
Feb 19, 2013 @ 00:12:53
Magnificient, a great look into history.
Feb 20, 2013 @ 15:14:13
I remember riding street cars in Kansas city 1942, now we are going to bring them back!
Feb 21, 2013 @ 16:51:45
As Archie and Edith Bunker sang "Those Were The Days".
Feb 21, 2013 @ 21:01:28
What the heck happened?
Feb 22, 2013 @ 06:57:08
Really great photo's. Thanks for sharing.
Feb 23, 2013 @ 15:23:37
Wonderful photos. So clear. Thank you.
Feb 24, 2013 @ 06:42:37
Why stop at 100 years? Lets go back further and see how far we really came. We have come a long way in terms of evolutionary technology, architecture, transportation but a lot of things are still lacking for complete and major transformation which will revolutionize our way of life in the future even more. In most parts of the world today even in the 21st century they are still with out dated technology. Until the whole planet evolves, we can't really progress further into the future as a society on earth.
Feb 24, 2013 @ 19:47:40
Enjoyed many days on the Steel pier.
Feb 25, 2013 @ 23:10:05
Almost no one looks obese or even overweight! What's happened to us?
Feb 26, 2013 @ 23:18:20
Most things look better than today.
Mar 02, 2013 @ 18:15:34
so many people for a moment I couldn't breath when you think about it nothing changed but the generation.
Mar 02, 2013 @ 20:42:19
Wonderful pictures. What a thrill, looking at our past! Wonder if our descendants will say the same thing about our cities in 100 years?
Mar 03, 2013 @ 01:37:01
I so enjoyed this.
Mar 09, 2013 @ 15:50:36
All the cars are black, and all the people are slender…and no bodies on the sidewalks…what went wrong?
Mar 10, 2013 @ 08:10:18
Just think. All the people in these photos are dead. Life is short.
Mar 11, 2013 @ 20:18:22
I loved the pictures but did notice no trees. Nothing green. And of course, no tagging on the walls.
Mar 11, 2013 @ 20:18:22
I loved the pictures but did notice no trees. Nothing green. And of course, no tagging on the walls.
Mar 13, 2013 @ 23:54:07
We have been to New York, Washington, and Detroit, but it looks like a different cities that we saw. I love the old buildings and the charchter of them. The Statue of Liberty, Brodway, The World Trade Center, The Stock Exchange and so much more. But we did see lots of litter and many bums begging for cigarettes and booze. Bill & ary Jo.
Mar 14, 2013 @ 00:02:14
just got back from a few weeks in Florida and was it cold. Got down to 41 at night. Had a great time with my sister.
Mar 19, 2013 @ 05:09:03
Picture #24 is – NOT – City Hall in New York.
Mar 21, 2013 @ 13:58:41
And all the guys wear hats!
Mar 22, 2013 @ 16:39:57
I am so awed by all of the photographs. Now I don't know if we have 'come a long way' or not.
Mar 26, 2013 @ 01:30:09
Heck yes, that's me!
Mar 27, 2013 @ 15:41:05
Clearly a different world and different caliber of people. It all went wrong somewhere.
Mar 27, 2013 @ 15:41:05
Clearly a different world and different caliber of people. It all went wrong somewhere.
Apr 05, 2013 @ 17:54:32
absolutely beautiful. Gentler times, no litter, pants at the waist -
Apr 05, 2013 @ 17:55:15
wonderful photos – thanks for sharing.
Apr 06, 2013 @ 01:14:08
Beautiful old pictures.All the people wore same black clothes and same black cars too.
Apr 14, 2013 @ 15:09:39
a lot of people even back then – and the number of men vs women – it would be interesting to see a more modern shot of the same locations.
Apr 14, 2013 @ 15:17:56
Glad to see your stuff here Joanne!! Send us up a local photo or two like you take so well!
Apr 14, 2013 @ 19:28:41
It would be interesting to have a picture of the same scene today to compare the changes.
Apr 21, 2013 @ 10:01:22
The good old days. What has happened going forward. People were more sophisticated in those days.
May 01, 2013 @ 18:24:53
before the southern invasion
May 05, 2013 @ 19:59:22
Those were nice pictures.
May 08, 2013 @ 15:12:49
Greenwich Village was built by developers and real estate speculators in the 1820s and -30s. All those brownstones and Federalist brick buildings that tourists love to coo over exist only because of real estate developers.
May 11, 2013 @ 17:56:22
Everyone is dressed so modestly. Not like today. lol Clean streets and clean buildings. Different concept.
May 17, 2013 @ 23:41:15
hi Joe sure do miss you guys.
May 17, 2013 @ 23:42:59
we always tell our friends about our best tri