Arcadia Publishing

In 1871, Betsey Williams, a descendant of Roger Williams, founder of Providence, Rhode Island, willed her family’s 102-acre farm to the city. One year later, the park added a small collection of animals, creating Roger Williams Park Zoo, the third-oldest zoo in the country.

As the animal collection developed, so too did the landscape of Roger Williams Park, with the entire collection eventually becoming consolidated into a localized area within the park, forming what is today known as Roger Williams Park Zoo. Owned by the City of Providence and operated by the Rhode Island Zoological Society, the zoo celebrated its 150th birthday in 2022. In that time, the zoo has welcomed multiple generations of local families and has attracted visitors from around the world, joining in the zoo’s mission to protect wildlife and wild places. Through its diverse animal collection, groundbreaking educational programs, and spectacular nighttime events, Roger Williams Park Zoo continues to push toward the future while reflecting fondly on its past.

Leigh Picard is the manager of interpretation and graphics at Roger Williams Park Zoo and has been in the guest service field for over 30 years. Susan Ring is an award-winning author with over 100 books under her belt and is the former manager of interpretation at Roger Williams Park Zoo.

Named for its abundance of sabal palms, this seven-mile barrier island off the South Carolina coast is a classic beach community.

In 1899, Dr. Joseph S. Lawrence dubbed the island the Isle of Palms to attract more tourists. Originally called Hunting Island by the Sewee Indians, the island was frequented mostly by hunters and fisherman. By the early 1900s, Isle of Palms was a popular resort. People came to visit the grand pavilion built by the Sottile family of Charleston and ride the giant Ferris wheel. Beachgoers enjoyed this recreational haven, but the Great Depression stalled the island's activity. Then, in 1944, Charleston attorney J.C. Long bought and developed 1,200 acres, and the island experienced renewed growth. In 1953, the island was incorporated into the City of Isle of Palms. Today, the Isle of Palms is home to more than 4,500 permanent residents and is a vacation destination for thousands of visitors each year. Images of America: Isle of Palms captures the charm of this old beach community.

A history of Sparrows Pointis a history of American ships and steel. Learn about The Point’shistory of industrial and naval progress.

Sparrows Pointwas on the map nearly a century before the city of Baltimore was laid out and just 20 years after the colony of Maryland was established.

After receiving a land grant from Lord Baltimore in 1652, Thomas Sparrow named the area Sparrow's Nest; although he never lived here and his heirs eventually disposed of the 600 acres, his name stuck. In 1886, the Pennsylvania Steel Companypurchased 385 acres from Capt. and Mrs. William Fitzell, and work began immediately on a new plant, a shipyard, and a company town.Furnace Awas fired up in October 1889. That same year, passenger rail service to and from Baltimore commenced. Meanwhile, laborers who chose to reside in the company town rented houses on streets with letters and numbers for names in locations designated by their job and race. By 1916, Bethlehem Steelhad acquired Sparrows Point. Over time, The Pointwould become the world's largest steel mill, supported by a prosperous, self-sufficient town.

Discover the history of the Throggs Neck-Pelham Bay community's early residents and its place in an ever-changing America.

First settled in 1643, Throggs Neck-Pelham Bay lies along the west bank of Eastchester Bay in the Bronx. It was once an area of grand estates and farms and was home to some of the wealthiest people in America, including Collis P. Huntington and Catherine Lorillard Wolfe. Throggs Neck-Pelham Bay offers a unique glimpse into the past, through carefully preserved images and a thoroughly researched text. The images in this volume cover all of the communities included in the charter granted to John Throckmorton by the Dutch in 1642.

Called Vriedlandt or Land of Peace by Dutch authorities, the area eventually fell prey to the burdens of war during the American Revolution. The images in Throggs Neck-Pelham Bay depict all aspects of life, from work to play. View the early modes of transportation used by the residents, the schools and churches they attended, the homes they lived in, and the activities they enjoyed. Readers will delight in the memories of yesteryear and the images of a young and undaunted America.

Discover the rich history of Jackson County, West Virginia through vintage images in this pictorial history.

On October 28, 1770, George Washington entered present-day Jackson County by traveling south down the Ohio River. The Sachem tribe camped with Washington's party and expressed a desire to barter with the Virginia traders. Washington made extensive notes of the terrain, animals, and timber. By 1772, Washington had patents on more than 6,800 acres in Jackson County. This led to the Ohio River being the source of trade, entertainment, and survival early in the history of Jackson County. Named after the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, Jackson County was established by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on March 1, 1831, out of parts of Mason, Kanawha, and Wood Counties. The terrain is sandy with fertile bottomlands along the Ohio River and gently rolling hills toward the east. Ripley is the county seat, situated in the central part of the county, and is named in honor of Harry Ripley, who drowned in Big Mill Creek in 1830.

With nearly two hundred vintage photographs from public and private collections, Belleville offers rare insight into the town's explosive growth.

Brimming with a rich history and local flavor that has gone largely undocumented for more than three hundred years, Belleville began as a small Dutch settlement in the 1670s and has grown into a busy suburb of 32,000 people, located only fifteen miles west of New York City. Situated on the west bank of the Passaic River, early Belleville was a center for early industry and water transportation and is noted as the birthplace of America's industrial revolution. From the legendary secret tunnels running beneath the Dutch Reformed Church to the beauty of Belleville Park, which sits beside one of the largest annual cherry blossom tree displays in the nation, Belleville tells the story of an often forgotten but noteworthy era in the turbulent development of early America. Belleville shows the appeal the bustling town held for many of the nation's most influential figures, including inventor Thomas Edison and famed architect Charles Granville Jones. The town was also a notable stop on Gen. George Washington's retreat from New York City to Philadelphia during the early days of the Revolutionary War.

Now known as the Richfield Heritage Preserve, discover how a farm owned by the Oviatt family in the early 19th century evolved into the former beloved Girl Scout camp, Crowell Hilaka.

The Oviatt family, who farmed the land for three generations sold the land to inventor James B. Kirby in 1919. With the fortune he made from vacuum cleaners and washing machines, Kirby built a home above his patented lake, powered it with electricity from his experimental mill, and invited friends to dance on his spring-loaded dance floor. Cleveland Girl Scouts turned the property into Camp Julia Crowell in 1937. In 1957, the Scouts purchased the adjoining remnant of the Neal estate, named the new addition Hilaka, and upgraded for the possibility of making Crowell Hilaka an international destination. The people of Richfield reclaimed the green space and the history when they voted to buy the former camp in 2014. The property is now a public park.

Author Lynn Scholle Richardson is the historian for Friends of Crowell Hilaka, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Richfield Heritage Preserve. She has drawn from the archives of the Richfield Historical Society; Girl Scouts of North East Ohio; Cleveland State University; the Oviatt, Neal, and Kirby families; and scores of camp alumni to tell the story of this beloved place.

In Watertown, the long and colorful history of this town is told through vintage images as never before.

Established in 1630, Watertown was the first inland settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. With its central location and proximity to the Charles River, Watertown has always been a convenient meeting place and a starting point for travelers and traders headed to the West. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the town consisted of many country estates and farmlands. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw industrial growth and an influx of immigrants. Today, Watertown has become a thriving business community, retaining its small-town character, beautiful historic houses, and tree-lined streets. In Watertown, the long and colorful story of the town is told through vintage images as never before. Within these pages, see the Perkins School for the Blind, the Stanley steamer, the Arsenal, and an array of historic houses, churches, and public buildings. Learn how Paul Revere and his comrades held meetings in Watertown during the eighteenth century and how the first streetcar routes originated in Watertown in 1894.

In this pictorial history, visit the Horace Mann west side neighborhood of Gary, Indiana, through four generations of the Steel City.

Though Gary was an industrial city founded by U.S. Steel, the Horace Mann neighborhood evolved into one of the most exclusive residential areas in northwest Indiana. Skilled craftsmen from the mills were able to live among doctors and lawyers as well as businessmen and supervisors from U.S. Steel. From the boom years of the 1920s through the 1960s, residents of diverse economic backgrounds sent their children to the same schools, prayed together in the same houses of worship, and shopped in Gary's popular downtown. Gary's West Side: The Horace Mann Neighborhood is a pictorial history spanning four generations of one of the Steel City's premier residential districts. Through archival photographs, family snapshots provided by former residents, and shared memories, the reader is taken on a nostalgic journey from the city's founding in 1906 through to the 21st century.

A collection of rare and vintage images documents the fascinating history of Madison Connecticut throughout the twentieth century, highlighting its incredible evolution.

Throughout the 20th century, Madison progressed slowly from a rural economy to one based on seasonal residents and then to that of a largely residential community. The development along the shoreline that marked the first 50 years of the century eventually spread inland to the rest of Madison. From 1,500 residents in 1900, the population swelled to a suburban community of over 16,000. This book is a photographic journey of this growing town, which changed significantly following the completion of the Connecticut Turnpike. Images document commercial establishments, the 1938 hurricane, the Field Company, the Future Farmers Fair, and the construction of the Connecticut Turnpike.

The Chesapeake Bay has been a multifaceted engine of American history and commerce since its first settlers touched the shore in the early 1600s.

Since English settlers first touched the shore of the new country in 1607, the Chesapeake Bay has been a multifaceted engine of American history and commerce. The body of inland tidal water between the largest bay cities, Norfolk and Baltimore, was large enough to be the setting of adventure and close enough to allow smaller towns and cities to grow up on its shores. The common community came to life with the technologies of steamboats that could cover the long distances between North and South relatively quickly. Steamers filled in the nooks and crannies of the bay's geography, and by the mid-19th century, the skies over the bay were lined with dark, waterborne contrails in all directions. Strong machines built to master rough seas while moving gently enough for small harbors, many steamers had life spans that crossed whole eras in American history.

Some were drafted into distinguished service in domestic and foreign wars. The steamers plied the bay and its rivers with a feminine grace well into the mid-20th century, when they were overtaken by the rush of modern times. The last steamer sailed into oblivion exactly 150 years after the first of them appeared in Baltimore harbor.

With the development of photography in the mid-nineteenth century the grandeur of Littleton's mountain scenery soon began to attract photographers to the area, and their images of the mirror-like lakes, winding rivers, dense, dark forests, and craggy mountains began a tourist boom that continues to this day.

Discover the history of USA's first suburb and how the American Dream of owning a home became a real possibility for many.

When developer Abraham Levitt and his two sons conceived the idea for Levittown in 1946, they were probably unaware of the future impact of their radical concept - to build cellarless, affordable tract housing on Long Island farmland. Levittown
became the prototype suburban community that has
been mirrored in towns throughout America and around the world. This delightful photographic history chronicles the growth and development of Levittown as returning World War II GIs flocked to it in droves, attracted by the promise of the American Dream of becoming homeowners. Despite criticism of its "stunning conformity," Levittown and its residents thrived as they raised families, started businesses, and created a close-knit community that exists to this day. This enchanting collection of photographs reveals the joys and struggles of Levittown's founders and residents as they carved their niche in American history.

Tour Chicago's Swedish heritage, from the great waves of migration to the present day, through vintage photographs in Swedish Chicago.

At the turn of the 20th century, Chicago was home to the largest Swedish population of any city in the world outside of Stockholm.

In the 1920s, Sweden experienced an economic depression and population growth that sparked another rush of Swedish immigration to America and Chicago, where they settled in large numbers in Andersonville and North Park. Chicago has been home to many famous and influential Swedes, including writers Carl Sandburg and Nelson Algren, and builder and developer Andrew Lanquist, who gave us both Wrigley Fieldand the Wrigley Building.

Paul Michael Peterson is an English teacher and lifelong Chicago resident whose grandparents emigrated from Sweden. He continues to celebrate the yearly traditions that his Swedish heritage has given him, including making glogg at Christmas.

Edenton and Chowan County, North Carolina is a pictorial history that celebrates early 20th-century lifestyles enjoyed by citizensof the first unofficial colonial capital.

Conveniently located between three important waterways in Eastern North Carolina, Chowan County, along with its county seat of Edenton, is a remarkable community whose roots dig deeply into the 1600s when settlers arrived from Jamestown. The steadfast Perquimans River to the east, the rapidly flowing Chowan River to the west, and the serene Edenton Bay to the south have for centuries provided means of transportation, economic endeavors, and scenic views for citizens and visitors alike. By 1750, Edenton had blossomed into a distinctly rustic and bustling community, and these water canals had greatly contributed to the needs of the county's merchants, lawyers, carpenters, and plantation workers. Edenton and Chowan County, North Carolina is an engaging pictorial history that celebrates early 20th-century lifestyles enjoyed by community members of the first unofficial colonial capital. Readers will visit ancestral plantations and the ancient labor of seine net fishing, while the Norfolk and Southern railcar-steamship John W. Garrett plies once again across the Albemarle Sound. Many of the area's earlier residents are brought to life, in word and image, while they work at the Edenton Peanut Company, the Edenton Cotton Mill, and many of the old stores that lined Main Street (now Broad Street).

What is the high point of North Carolina? Why, it’s High Point, North Carolina!

Established in 1859, High Point was so named because it was located at the highest point on the rail line between Charlotte and Goldsboro. The city expanded rapidly from the epicenter of the crossroads of the Plank Road and the railroad, making High Point a transportation hub within North Carolina. High Point is also the only city in North Carolina located within four counties: Davidson, Forsyth, Guilford, and Randolph. Beyond their railway history, High Point has always been a manufacturing center, nicknamed the “furniture capital of the world.” Today, the world’s largest furnishings market is held each spring and fall in High Point, drawing in over 70,000 people.High Pointshowcases the rich manufacturing and community history of this North Carolina Triad city.

Clayton depicts and documents the history of this diverse New York community.

The town of Clayton, located in northern New York State, was established on the shores of the mighty St. Lawrence River. At the turn of the last century, Clayton was in its heyday, and was one of the most famous resort destinations in the northeastern United States. During this period, Clayton was a place of affluence, its economy and culture built on the timber trade, shipping, boat building, and tourism industries. This book highlights the collection of Lester Corbin. Mr. Corbin, known as the ""Dean of the Thousand Islands Photographers,"" dedicated his life to compiling the photographic history of Clayton and the surrounding Thousand Islands Region. Whether shooting his own photography or restoring the collections of photographers who went before him, Mr. Corbin was able to develop one of the most extensive collections in the area. Every photograph in this book is taken from an original glass plate or negative found in the collection.

For more than one hundred years, Ocean Grove New Jersey has provided a retreat to those wishing to return to a life of religious renewal and recreation by the shore.

In 1869, a group of ministers and religious faithful established a permanent Methodist camp meeting community on the North Jersey shore. A state charter was issued one year later, and the community of Ocean Grove was born. Following the example set by other camp meetings, Ocean Grove became a center for religious revivals. The town continued to flourish as railroad and steamship lines transported passengers eager to escape the nearby crowded cities. For more than one hundred years, Ocean Grove has provided a retreat to those wishing to return to a life of religious renewal and recreation. Ocean Grove is a detailed look at the growth of this unique seaside community. Home to the largest aggregate of Victorian and early-twentieth-century structures in America, Ocean Grovecontinues to provide its visitors with a glimpse into the past. Ocean Grove has maintained its custom of holding summer camp meetings for over one hundred-thirty years. These annual revivals have attracted such notable speakers and guests as William Jennings Bryan, Booker T. Washington, and Presidents Grant and Roosevelt to the Great Auditorium. Since its conception, Ocean Grove has been home to an uncommon history, making Ocean Grove a treasure.

Volume II takes readers on a journey through the business, transportation and sports history of the ""City of Firsts.""

Images of America: Springfield Volume I gave readers a photographic history of the city's ethnic populations and religions. It also told the story of education and public service in the ""City of Firsts."" In Springfield Volume II, author Ginger Zabecki Cruickshank takes readers on a second journey through the past to the origins of the city's many businesses, transportation systems, and social agencies, such as the YMCA and local hospitals that have served the people of Springfield, as well as some of the best sports stories in the city's history. The stories and early photographs of well-known companies including Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Friendly's Ice Cream Corporation, and Merriam-Webster are shown in this striking volume. All have roots in Springfield, as do Milton Bradley and Smith & Wesson. The famous Knox automobiles and the Peter Pan Bus Company are brought to life with other stories in the fascinating development of transportation in the area. As the city has adapted and grown with the population and changing economic times, it has built a tradition of citizens succeeding despite great obstacles. It is that tradition that has made the city what it is today.

Every Labor Day weekend, hundreds of thousands of people flock to Courthouse Square in Scranton for the largest ethnic festival in northeastern Pennsylvania: La Festa Italiana.

The Italians of Pennsylvania have been proudly celebrating their heritage since their arrival in this country with traditional festivals, including La Corsa dei Ceri in Jessup and Dunmore's procession in honor of St. Rocco. Using vintage and contemporary photographs, Italians of Northeastern Pennsylvaniashows how the Italian immigrants to this area, some of whom arrived with little more than the clothes on their back, became well-respected community leaders. Through hard work and dedication, they have made northeastern Pennsylvania into an area fiercely loyal to Italian traditions.

Over 200 rare and vintage photographs document the beginnings and transformations of this area in The Communities of Western Aroostook County.

The beauty and strength of the landscape of northwestern Maine is reflected in the people who have lived here since the area was first settled in the mid-nineteenth century. Arriving from as far away as Sweden and as near as the next village, the first pioneers transformed a hard and often unforgiving land known as ""the last frontier"" into settlements, farms, and homes. These settlements are still with us today: Ashland, Castle Hill, Crouseville, Mapleton, Masardis, Oxbow, Perham, Portage, Sheridan, Wade, Washburn, and Woodland. The settlers and their descendants earned a reputation for honesty, thrift, dependability, tenacity, and hard work which spread far beyond Western Aroostook County itself. Over two hundred vivid photographs show the way life used to be. We meet loggers and farmers, hunters and guides, and innkeepers and blacksmiths, while also getting a glimpse into the daily lives of the rich variety of people that make the western area of Aroostook County so unique. Whether pictured bustling down Main Street, enjoying Christmas sleigh rides, mourning a departed relative, hauling logs, or tending the farm, our forebears reach out to us across the decades in this fascinating book.

Migrants from Puerto Rico to New York beginning in the 1890s created a vibrant and active community and culture, documented here.

The history of Puerto Ricans in the so-called ""Babel of Steel"" dates back more than a century. Through hundreds of images of the ""pioneers""-those Puerto Rican migrants who established themselves in New York City between the 1890s and the end of World War II-we capture a glimpse of their daily lives and of their individual and collective stories. This rich collection of images from the Archives of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College helps to examine the history of the Puerto Rican community at a time when it was spreading its roots in New York City's social, political, cultural, and economic life.

In 1818, Illinois became America's 21st state, and over those 200 years, Illinoisans have been prominent in every war that the United States has been involved in.

From the French and Indian War to the current War on Terror, Illinoisans, Illinois Militia, and National Guard units have been called upon to act. Throughout Illinois there are monuments dedicated to national figures as well as lesser known heroes. For example, Abraham Lincoln moved to Illinois as a young man, and during the Black Hawk Wars, he served in the Illinois Militia as a captain; on April 11, 1930, the State of Illinois dedicated a monument in Dixon in honor of his service. On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, ceremonies are held throughout Illinois at these monuments in honor of those who have served our state and nation.

Considered one of the world's most beautiful beaches for its sugar white sand and emerald blue-green waters, Panama City Beach has, until recently, remained one of Florida's undiscovered treasures.

First documented by Spanish explorers in the 1500s and later by the English, the region remained unsettled because of its inaccessibility and marauding renegade inhabitants. At a time when property was valued according to the crops it could grow, the beach was dismissed as a no man's land unsuitable for habitation. The early 1930s and the Hathaway Bridge, connecting Panama City Beach to the mainland, marked its discovery and the beginning of area tourism.

Italians first settled in the Newark area in the 1880s.Italian-Americans of Newark, Nutley, and Bellevilleshows these immigrant families from 1900 to the 1950s.

The street peddler, the barber, the baker, the undertaker, the macaroni maker, the concert musician, and more are portrayed here in the grace and dignity of their work.

Outings to the shore or Branch Brook Parkbalanced hard work and long hours. Family gatherings, weddings, first communions, and processions for the feasts of St. Gerard, St. Rocco, and St. Bartholomewwere all a part of the life of the family and the vibrant Italian neighborhoods.

More than 200 vintage photographs from family albums tell these stories.

A fascinating history of Otisco Lake Community, documenting this New York State Finger Lake area's beginnings.

With Otisco Lake Community, Roger N. Trendowski chronicles this New York State Finger Lake area's history from the late 1800s to mid-1900s. Gathered from many local archives, private collections, and town historians from Otisco, Marcellus, and Spafford, the unique published and unpublished images show the area's natural beauty. The pictures transport us to the past where some of the same adventurous and entertaining activities still remain today.