Catalog Search Results
Brooklyn Navy Yard details the beginnings and history of this significant military site.
Not much larger than a few city blocks (219 acres, plus 72 acres of water), the Brooklyn Navy Yard is one of the most historically significant sites in America. It was one of the U.S. Navy's major shipbuilding and repair yards from 1801 to 1966. It produced more than 80 warships and hundreds of smaller vessels. At its height during World War
...2) Aurora
Located in northeastern Ohio, Aurora began as part of the Connecticut Western Reserve and drew many of its first settlers from New England. The city was founded in 1799, with its residents making their living from hunting, farming, and milling. As settlers cleared the land, planted their crops, and raised their animals, they retained their New England heritage, reflected in the many "century homes" found in the town. The area remained largely rural
...3) Batavia
The Dixie Highway, once a main thoroughfare from Chicago to Miami, was part of an improved network of roads traversing the landscape of 10 states. A product of the Good Roads Movement of the early 20th century, construction on the highway in Illinois took place from 1916 to 1921. When completed in 1921, the Dixie Highway was the longest continuous paved road in the state. It ran through parts of Cook, Will, Kankakee, Iroquois, and Vermilion Counties,
...Chicago is known throughout the world for its architecture. Although many people are familiar with the city's skyscrapers and public buildings, they often overlook or are unaware of Chicago's mansions that are located throughout the city. These mansions represent Chicago's past and its future, and it can even be said that they are the very embodiment of Chicago and its architecture. These fashionable residences were built to make a statement, and
...McHenry County, Illinois, is a picture-perfect farming community in the Heartland of Midwestern America. For nearly two centuries, a portion of the nation's food supply has come from this fertile land near the Fox River, and it has played a key role in the history of Chicago and the United States. Through the medium of historic photographs, this book captures the evolution of the people of McHenry County, from the mid-1800s to the second half of
...Prairie Avenue evolved into Chicago's most exclusive residential street during the last three decades of the 19th century.
Chicago's wealthiest citizens—Marshall Field, Philip Armour, and George Pullman—were soon joined by dozens of Chicago's business, social, and civic leaders, establishing a neighborhood that the Chicago Herald proclaimed a cluster of millionaires not to be matched for numbers anywhere else in the
...The Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 was an unparalleled catastrophe in the history of San Francisco. More than 4.5 square miles of the city burned and crumbled into a windswept desert of desolation. This book is filled with remarkable images, from before the earthquake through the blaze and into the rebuilding.
With stories from...
North Aurora: 1834-1940 is a quintessential study of what happened when settlers arrived in the Midwest in the 1830s. The village's location on the Fox River provided plentiful trees and waterpower for sawmills. Soon other mills, smelting works, a packing plant, a door-sash-blind factory, and a creamery all came to town. The village's railroad enabled its Boswell Cheese Factory to ship cream cheese to England in 1877. By 1922, North Aurora had
...This new addition to the Images of America series
traces the history of Lockport, Illinois, from the
height of its canal activity in the late 1860s to its
decline as the lifeblood of the town in the early
20th century. Lockport's story is revealed here in
over 200 vintage photographs that trace the town's
progress from its early days through the 1970s, when
the canal reappeared as a recreational and tourist attraction. In Lockport,
...15) Daufuskie Island
A paradise for pirates? A strategic military outpost? A holding area for enslaved Africans? A tourist attraction? Daufuskie Island is all of that and more.
Daufuskie, a Muscogee word meaning "sharp feather" or "land with a point," is an island located between Hilton Head and Savannah, and with no bridge to the mainland, the island maintains a distinct allure. Once home to Native American tribes, then an island hideaway for pirates,
...After enduring 10 harrowing years of the Great Depression, visitors to the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair found welcome relief in the fair's optimistic presentation of the "World of Tomorrow." Pavilions from America's largest corporations and dozens of countries were spread across a 1,216-acre site, showcasing the latest industrial marvels and predictions for the future intermingled with cultural displays from around the world. Well known
...Through an extensive collection of never-before published images, author Dolores Haugh chronicles the tale of this impressive chapter of Chicago history.
Every summer from 1904 to 1967, for 63 years, Riverview - the world's largest amusement park - opened its gates to millions of people from all walks of life. For three generations, the Schmidt's family park offered rides, shows, food, and music to men, women, and especially children.
...18) Maywood
The character of this singular suburb is preserved and celebrated in Images of America: Maywood. A must-have for fans of Illinois history.
Ten miles west of Chicago on the west bank of the Des Plaines River sits Maywood, a village that was founded in 1869 by seven New England businessmen who established the Maywood Land Company. This prairie community, carefully laid out along the railroad, experienced a population
...One of the phrases that has been used to describe Chicago's Southeast Side is "smokestacks and steeples." The community initially developed because of the steel industry, but it has been affected by the decline of the American steel industry in recent years. Today, the people of South Chicago, South Deering, the East Side, and Hegewisch look to the future. The community is, in many respects, at a crossroads. Will economic redevelopment occur, and
...