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Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.
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Today's Top 5
Philadelphia: 1909
Submitted by Dave on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 4:10pm.
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Philadelphia circa 1909. "Broad Street north from Walnut." With City Hall, William Penn and two young friends center stage. View full size.
Traffic
Submitted by DaveinPhilly on Sun, 01/01/2012 - 4:22pm.
This brings to mind a recent viewing of the 3rd episode of "Downton Abbey":
"Why would you want to go there? - the traffic is terrible - when I last was there there were 5 cars parked and two or three drove past in the same day" --
Tallest building
Submitted by Plymouthfan on Sat, 12/31/2011 - 10:02pm.
From 1901 to 1908, Philadelphia's City Hall was the tallest inhabitable building in the world and until the 1980's it was still the tallest building in the city.
Thanks for the photo Dave!
100 years later
Submitted by heinzeketchum on Sat, 12/31/2011 - 11:05am.
I unwittingly took this photo again in 2009 when visiting this beautiful city. The trees seem to have grown a little bit!
+97
Submitted by timeandagainphoto on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 4:44pm.
Below is (almost) the same view from July of 2006.
Architectural Beauty
Submitted by 19thCenturyGirl on Thu, 12/29/2011 - 9:19pm.
I am always amazed at these turn of the century photos. Unlike most of our buildings constructed today, these were done with lovely details and much architectural interest. I become very sad to learn that most of these are gone or on their way to the scrapheap. It must have been wonderful to walk the streets back then to take in the beauty of these grand buildings. Seems as we progress, the further away we stray from the details that were pretty commonplace then. Just an old soul here wanting to go back to that era for a visit.
And thanks timeandagainphoto for your pic. Its so nice to see most of the buildings still stand!
THE 100-YEAR-OLD PHOTO BLOG
Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
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Today's Top 5