History

Discover the history behind Griffin Memorial Hospital through this collection of historic photographs.

Griffin Memorial Hospital is located at the end of East Main Street in Norman, Oklahoma. The hospital was originally started as High Gate College, a girls’ school established by the United Methodist Church, South in 1890, one year after the settlement of Norman. With competition from the University of Oklahoma, High Gate College closed its doors in early 1895 and was soon bought by the Oklahoma Sanitarium Company. In 1915, the State of Oklahoma bought the Oklahoma Sanitarium Company and renamed the institution Central State Hospital. In 1953, the hospital was renamed Griffin Memorial Hospital. Under the supervision of Dr. David Griffin, the hospital grew to over 30 buildings and three farms in its first 40 years. With a change in institutional care in the 1960s, the state built a Community Health Care Center on the hospital grounds. Today, Griffin Memorial Hospital has few institutionalized patients and little resembles the thriving establishment of the early 20th century.

Suzanne H. Schrems, PhD, is a resident of Norman, Oklahoma, and a board member of the Cleveland County Historical Society. Schrems is the author of books and articles on Oklahoma and the American West. Proceeds from this book go to the Cleveland County Historical Society and the Moore-Lindsay Historic House Museum.

Established in 1829, the largest county in Arkansas is Union County, sprawling 1,000 square miles along the state line with Louisiana. In between the county’s pine forests and wilderness are little hamlets and winding roads that anchor the “city of black gold,” El Dorado, the county seat. 

The history of Union County is about the land and its people, from the first settlers to those who marched off to war. It is also about a seismic shift from a sleepy small town supported by farming and timber to a great boomtown with the striking of oil in 1921. Thousands of people poured in, and the area would never be the same again, with the impact spanning the next century. Even after the great heady days of the oil boom were in the past, Union County and El Dorado would diversify their industry for the future.

Author Ray Hanley is a retired health care and IT executive. He is one of the most published historians in Arkansas, with over 21 books published and a daily newspaper feature, Arkansas Postcard Past, in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, appearing since 1986. El Dorado and Union County’s history is told here in vivid postcards and historic photographs with the assistance of the South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society.

Between 1824 and 1840, Florida’s government functioned out of several log cabins and rented rooms in the newly established territorial capital of Tallahassee. In 1839, the federal government gave $20,000 to construct a permanent capitol building; the bones of the structure were laid by enslaved craftsmen. The first session took place in 1841, and additional funds requested each year ensured the capitol was complete when Florida entered the Union as the 27th state on March 3, 1845. Over the years, four significant capitol expansions reflected the needs of a growing state until a new and modern Capitol Complex, designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone, was completed in 1977. The aging former capitol was slated for demolition until the people of Florida spoke out in a successful campaign to save the historic building and restore it to its 1902 appearance. Highlighting the photographic collection of the State Archives of Florida, Florida’s Historic Capitol Building reveals stories about the state’s political past, the development of a capital city, and the legacy of an iconic Florida building.

Located in the rolling hills of the Carolina Piedmont, rows of cherry trees line the Old Post Road leading into Cherryville.

Originally called White Pine, the town was renamed for the ubiquitous cherry trees that are still celebrated with an annual cherry blossom festival. The village was spun from the wilderness during the mid-1700s, when Scots-Irish and German immigrants settled the area around Beaver Dam and Indian Creeks. These settlers brought with them their languages, religions, music, and customs; the German tradition of shooting in the New Year with muskets and black powder continues today after 250 years. With a storied history from the Revolutionary War, the advent of the railroad, and the international firm of Carolina Freight Carriers Corporation in 1932, Cherryville has grown into a sophisticated, modern town.

In Images of America: Lake Pontchartrain, photographs document memories of a time that not even Hurricane Katrina could erase.

Native Americans used Okwata, meaning wide water, as a shortcut for inland trade between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. When the Europeans arrived, the original inhabitants showed them the route—the settlement near the river became the city of New Orleans, other lakeshore communities grew, and Lake Pontchartrain continued to be a vital waterway well into the 20th century. Aside from its economic value, Lake Pontchartrain was a cultural mecca: Mark Twain wrote about it and jazz sprang from its shores; locals and visitors traveled out to the amusement parks and opera pavilions, simple fishing villages and swanky yacht clubs, forts and lighthouses; and majestic hotels and camps perched precariously over the water.

Pine Island is tucked between the mainland of southwest Florida and Sanibel and Captiva islands, only 17 miles long and accessible by a single drawbridge.

The community of Pine Island is a rare and lingering remnant of old Florida, with many praising it as the new Key West. The island's shores are home to mangroves teaming with fish instead of crowded beaches, making it a major destination for sport fishing enthusiasts and providing a livelihood for the independent commercial fishing families of the island. Strolling the lazy street to Bokeelia's famous fishing pier, or exploring an active Calusa Indian archeological site in Pineland, the crowds and tourist-related glitz common to most of Florida's islands are nowhere to be found, leaving visitors to discover Pine Island's unspoiled beauty at their own pace.

In St. Landry Parish, Native American, European, African, and Acadian cultures have melded for three centuries to produce zydeco music, great food, and welcoming people.

St. Landry Parish, one of the oldest European settlements in Louisiana, has a fascinating history and culture. By the 15th century, the Appalousa Indians were known to be in residence. In 1720, the French established le Poste des Opelousas. Traditionally an area of settlement by French Creoles and Acadians, the parish was named for St. Landry, an early bishop of Paris. In the late 1700s, les gens de couleur libres (free people of color) began arriving to take advantage of Spanish land grants. Soon, the government post developed into a commercial center. In the present-day parish, Native American, European, African, and Acadian cultures have melded for almost three centuries to produce world-famous zydeco music, great food, and welcoming people. It celebrates its heritage at the Creole Heritage Folklife Center, one of the destinations on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.

From the Siege of Petersburg to the struggle for civil rights, the history of Petersburg's African American community is detailed in this volume.

The city of Petersburg has distinguished itself as a special place for African American history. African Americans in Petersburg have overcome racial and political obstacles placed in their paths. The city was the site of one of the largest free black populations in the South leading up to the Civil War, and more black soldiers participated in the Siege of Petersburg than in any other Civil War engagement. The city is the location of First Baptist Church, the nation's oldest black church; has produced trailblazers in political life, including Virginia's first black mayor; and is the site of the famous Halifax Triangle, a thriving black business district. This diverse and poignant collection of photographs reveals a heritage rich in entrepreneurial spirit, devotion to church life, and unshakable courage in the struggle for civil rights.

See how Charles Town, West Virginia, retains its original small town charm while attracting visitors today.

Charles Town, located in the Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia, was petitioned in 1786 and founded on January 7, 1787, by Charles Washington, George's youngest brother. Many of this historic community's streets are named for Washington family members, including Mildred and Samuel. The Jefferson County Courthouse, made famous as the location for the 1859 treason trial of the abolitionist John Brown and the 1922 Miners' Trials, sits in the center of town on one of the original four lots platted by Charles for community use. Today, Charles Town retains its original small town roots while attracting visitors with such diverse activities as The Charles Town Races and Slots and nearby hiking and whitewater rafting.

New Orleans was one of the first cities to embrace street railways, and the city's love affair with streetcars has never ceased. New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line showcases photographs, diagrams, and maps that detail the rail line from its origin and golden years, its decline and disappearance for almost 40 years, and its return to operation. From the French Quarter to the cemeteries, the Canal Line ran through the heart of the city and linked the Creole Faubourgs with the new neighborhoods that stretched to Lake Pontchartrain.

Durham is a progressive New South city, one in which both the white and black populations have economically and culturally prospered over the past
century.

Durham's Hayti opens a door into the community's past that will allow you to walk down
familiar streets into a time that may seem distant, but is not that far removed, and to experience the full life of Hayti, from its churches and schools to its businesses and recreational pursuits.

This pictorial history of Natchez Trace illustrates the people, places, and events that have shaped the area's cultural and natural history.

The Natchez Trace is one of the oldest trails in North America. In 1801, President Jefferson ordered the Army to build a road along the trail to provide a route for moving troops and delivering mail. Jefferson dispatched soldiers down the road in 1803 to protect the Louisiana Purchase, and Andrew Jackson and his troops followed it to battle the British in the War of 1812. As an 1800-era link between Nashville, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi, the road served as a pathway for settling much of what we now know as the South. Twentieth-century writers such as Eudora Welty later embellished its lore of heroes, bandits, and spies, inspiring Southern leaders to revive the Natchez Trace.

In this unique retrospective, the history of the island comes to life through remarkable vintage images, culled from the collections of the Georgia Historical Society; the Ford, Torrey, and West families; Project Genesis and Ossabaw Island Project members and directors John Earl, Al Bradford, and Helen Hamada; Paul Efird; Dr. M. Craig Alee; and others. Ossabaw is explored from prehistoric times through the arrival of the Spanish 450 years ago, from its plantation years through the purchase of the island by the Torrey family in 1924, and from the establishment of Eleanor Torrey West's internationally acclaimed Ossabaw Foundation through the sale of the island to the State of Georgia in 1978. Within these pages, readers will enter the historic gardens of Mrs. Nell Ford Torrey, meet a young Eleanor Ford Torrey exploring her own paradise on horseback in the 1930s, mingle with the influential businessmen at Dr. Torrey's hunting parties, and gaze in breathtaking wonder at the beauty of Georgia's first Heritage Preserve.

Join author Gregg M. Turner as he recounts the history during the ecomomic boom in Venice, Florida in the 1920’s.

In the 1920s, a tremendous land boom gripped Florida, and waves of people descended upon the Sunshine State. Between just 1923and 1925 an estimated 300,000 people came to permanently settle in the state, and over a dozen new counties were created in this single decade. Fueled by postwar prosperity, tourists and new residents poured money into the state's economy and dramatically increased the demand for land, homes, hotels, industry, recreation, commerce, and services. At the height of the boom, when many believed that the bubble had to burst, there came news that a new resort city was under development on the Gulf Coast below Sarasota, and all eyes turned to Venice. Over the decades since its creation, Venice, with its balmy climate, unlimited boating and fishing, and pristine mainland beach, has grown to be a Mecca for thousands of tourists, snowbirds, and retirees. Carved out of a tropical wilderness by America's oldest and wealthiest union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Venice was made into a Gulf Coast oasis with Spanish-style architecture, beautiful landscaping, and a friendly network of tree-lined streets and boulevards. Visual documentation of this early era has captured a city in its infancy and a valuable piece of Venice's heritage.

From a small agricultural community in northern Florida into a thriving city, many people have helped transform Gainesville into what it is today.

After befriending the Timucuan Indians who originally inhabited the region, Spanish colonizers began recruiting other settlers to move to the area. Despite the early foundations set, the people who brought the railroad to Gainesville deserve the most credit for giving the town its start. Soon after tracks were laid throughout the city, small businesses sprouted and opportunities for new industries arose. The city's population expanded along with its economic growth, and more people began to witness the unique potential of Gainesville. In 1905, the city became home to the University of Florida, and a rich educational heritage began. The university brought great attention to the town and subsequently made Gainesville not only one of the most important cities in Florida, but one of the most prominent educational epicenters in the South.

These pictorial images of Greek heritage illustrate the people and events that have shaped the culture and history of Tarpon Springs.

Beginning in 1905, large numbers of Greeks from the Dodecanese and Saronic Gulf islands settled in Tarpon Springs to work in the sponge business. They significantly expanded the industry and changed Tarpon Springs forever. Greektown flourished with residences, stores, churches, restaurants, and recreational facilities stretching from the sponge docks to downtown. Sponge fishing and related activities served as the economic base for the community. By 1913, as many as half of Tarpon Springs residents were reputedly Greek, and many businesses displayed both Greek and American flags. Today, Tarpon Springs' Greek community preserves a strong ethnic and maritime heritage. While some major US cities have a larger Greek population, no other has a greater percentage with Greek heritage than Tarpon Springs.

Rare and vintage photographs document the fascinating history of Gulfport, from small port city to modern urban hub.

Gulfport's name says it all. The port and railroads were the foundation for this community. In 1900, at two years old, its population was only a little over 1,000. However, by 1906, that number had grown to over 14,000. A wide channel and deepened basin provided for the 36 ships anchored in the harbor. Capt. William T. Hardy's railroad was complete. Wealthy oilman Capt. Joseph T. Jones had made good on his promises of a train depot, an office building, banks, schools, churches, and stores. The luxurious Great Southern Hotel stood as a star costing over $350,000 to build. Gulfport was a thriving port city. The golfing, hunting, and waterfront activities were an early appeal. Images reflect great fortune and the desperate losses in Gulfport.

This pictorial history of Hendersonville illustrates the people, places, and events that have shaped the area’s history.

Resting in one of Western North Carolina's scenic valleys near the continental divide, Hendersonville offers a rich culture and intriguing history in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hendersonville was chartered as a city on January 7, 1847, and the coming of the railroad in 1879 sparked its growth. The summer arrival by train of both wealthy and middle-class visitors bolstered Main Street businesses and gave rise to fashionable inns and innumerable boarding houses. The photographs in Images of America: Hendersonville illustrate the history of a town still populated with founding families, seasonal residents, and summer tourists. This volume explores the early pioneer days, the Civil War period, the land boom of the 1920s, the Great Depression, and the growth of this now-thriving city.

Perched near the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Waynesville is an attractive destination with stunning vistas, cool mountain air, and small-town charm.

For centuries, the Cherokee lived and hunted in what is now western North Carolina, and after the Revolutionary War, white settlers moved into the area from all directions to farm and build a new life on the frontier. By the end of the 18th century, families had established a small community known as Mount Prospect. In 1810, the town was renamed Waynesville after the Revolutionary War general Mad Anthony Wayne. With the coming of the railroad in the 1880s, Waynesville blossomed as a summer retreat for guests who came to stay at numerous boarding houses and hotels. By the early 1900s, Waynesville's neighboring town, Hazelwood, became a hotbed of industrial growth with lumber mills and assorted factories producing furniture, leather goods, and rubber products, and the town would eventually merge with Waynesville in 1995.

Join historian Seth Bramson as he recounts the rise in popularity and rich history of Miami Beach using vintage images from his personal collection.

Miami Beach began its rise to the top of the world's resort scene when Carl Fisher, builder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, arrived prior to 1920. The lure of The World's Playground was impossible to ignore for many, as hotels and restaurants flourished, even through the Great Depression. The images in this volume evoke poignant memories of Miami Beach's great past, almost inevitable downturn, and return to life with the discovery of South Beach and a renewed interest in art deco. Among the vintage views, most of which have never before been published, are early Lincoln Road and Washington Avenue; Miami Beach High School; Parham's; Junior's; Wolfies; Pumperniks; the first hotel on Miami Beach, Brown's; the Roney Plaza; the Fontainebleau; and, of course, the people who helped create this modern paradise.

Images of America: Richmond: A Historic Walking Tour guides readers through one of the earliest cities in the United States.

The book offers stories about settlers and Native Americans, our Founding Fathers, and even famous celebrities such as Elvis Presley, who made a visit to the Jefferson Hotel. Presented in this book are several walking tours, including one through Capitol Square, home to the Thomas Jefferson-designed state capitol; a stroll down Monument Avenue, one of the first streets to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places; and even a ramble through Hollywood Cemetery, the picturesque 19th-century resting spot for many celebrated historical figures.

Explore the fascinating history of Lynchburg, Virginia with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

In the spring of 1757, the Lynch brothers established a ferry across the James Riverto transport settlers on their way to the Ohio Valley. Within a decade, the settlement clustered around the ferry house became known as Lynchburg.

For a century, the city was regarded as one of the most important transportation centers in the Upper South, although its real fortune lay in tobacco. After the Civil War, Lynchburg evolved into a manufacturing center with a broadly based economy. As it marks its 250th anniversary, Lynchburg has become a focus for higher education and tourism in Central Virginia.

From the development of the modern camera to the current digital revolution, this photographic record of Lynchburg and the surrounding counties' growth is rich, varied, and traces their transformation almost from their birth to the present day.

Despite Marco Island's common distinction as the largest of Florida's Ten Thousand Islands, there are only 12 square miles of land upon which to wander - making the enormity of its history all the more remarkable.

Marco Island projects prominently from Florida's mainland at the peninsula's southwestern fringe, where the waters of the Everglades and the Gulf of Mexico commingle. Its tropical climate, verdant landscape, unique topography, and abundant wildlife sustained prehistoric Native American cultures for centuries. The first pioneer settlers arrived in 1870, carving out a niche on the harsh Florida frontier. Bustling villages soon sprang up on the island, bolstered by strong leaders and economies centered around farming and fishing. The crash of Florida's land boom, along with the Great Depression, devastating hurricanes, and a series of failed developments, ultimately stunted the island's growth. Most of Marco Island was sold to the Deltona Corporation in 1964, which transformed the island into a place its early residents might find unrecognizable.

While it may be hundreds of years younger than its Italian namesake, Naples, Florida, has an exciting history all its own!

Naples was not much more than a bend in the road in the 1940s, but by 1950, its beautiful beaches and balmy weather had been rediscovered, and development and tourism became the city's lifeblood. Although Hurricane Donna struck Naples in 1960, the building boom continued, and by the late 1970s, few undeveloped areas remained, culminating in 1972 for the development of a new gulf-front luxury community called Pelican Bay. More than 200 images offer insight into this rarely chronicled period of Naples' history, including seldom-seen historic photographs from the archives of the Naples Daily News (formerly the Collier County News) and vintage postcards from the collection of Nina Heald Webber.

See the people and places that helped shape Boca Raton, Florida, into the proud city that it is today.

Boca Raton has long served as a beautiful home to a host of interesting and talented people, from the Tekesta Indians and the buccaneers who sought refuge in the calm waters of its natural inland harbor, to today's proud residents. From a hardscrabble agricultural outpost along Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast line, the city is today one of America's great resort destinations and a prime address for a growing number of people from all over the world who want to live ""the good life."" Personalities including first settler Thomas Moore Rickards, society architect Addison Mizner, and inventor Domina Jalbert have all helped define Boca Raton, adding to the brick-and-mortar landmarks, attractions, and natural features that shape its landscape.

The history of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, can be summed up in four words: rice, sea, golf, and hammocks.

The rivers threading through coastal South Carolina created an ideal environment for cultivating rice, and by the mid-18th century, vast plantations were producing profitable crops and wealthy landowners. But those plantations also produced malaria-carrying mosquitoes, so the landowners sent their families to the seashore for the summer and built the first houses on Pawleys Island starting in 1822. The end of slavery doomed the rice culture, and the old plantations were sold to rich Northerners for hunting and fishing retreats. By the 1960s, many of the old plantations were turned into golf courses, reviving the economy. But the beating heart of Pawleys Island remains the rhythm of the sea and what one early visitor called the only beach in the world.

From Nashville’s earliest days as a pioneer town in Middle Tennessee, it would be nothing without its African American community.

Like many cities of the Antebellum South, Nashville was built by enslaved people, as African Americans built the first successful water system, maintained the streets, cultivated crops, and bred livestock. For years, Nashville was considered one of the wealthiest Southern cities, but after the Civil War, it struggled to regain that status while its newly freed Black citizens struggled to survive the South’s Reconstruction and subsequent Jim Crow laws. As the Civil Rights era brought long-needed reforms, the Black community of Nashville has persevered through their determination, spiritual strength, and the unique leadership fostered by the visionary city they call home.

A fascinating history of Suffolk’s heroic African-American community. A must-have for African-American and Virginia history enthusiasts.

After the Civil War, African-Americans throughout Suffolk and Nansemond County fought against injustice by demanding equality before the law, the right to vote, and equal access to schools, employment, and professions. Because of their tolerance and sense of fortitude, they were able to own land and businesses and to establish churches, schools, and social organizations that paved the way for generations to come.

Suffolkis a result of the many contributions made by countless pioneers in education, business, religion, social organizations, and community leadership. In this volume, Suffolk native and archivist Annette Montgomery shares timeless, evocative images and passages for all to enjoy.

Long before white settlers staked claim to the land now known as Bradenton, generations of Native Americans congregated around a natural spring with reputed medicinal and spiritual powers.

In 1842, as the second Seminole War ended, Josiah Gates and a hardy band of pioneers labored to put down roots near the spring. They built homes and started businesses, gradually creating the village of Manatee. To the west, another early settler, Dr. Joseph Braden, constructed a fortified encampment where employees working on his sugar plantation found refuge from Seminole raids. As the garrison evolved into a town, Maj. William Iredell Turner proposed naming the community after Dr. Braden, but an error in the application resulted in the name Braidentown. Turner, considered the city's founder, envisioned a thoroughfare with access to a wharf on the Manatee River. His plotting of lots along Main Street spurred business development and produced a conduit for commerce and trade. Bradenton was formed in 1944, when it merged with the town of Manatee.

Nearly 150 years since its founding, Meharry Medical College continues to be a significant medical institution that holds true to its motto: “Dedicated to the worship of God through service to man.”

Originally founded in 1876 as a department of Central Tennessee College, Meharry Medical College was granted a separate charter of incorporation in 1915. The college was named to honor five Irish brothers, Samuel, Hugh, Alexander, Jesse, and David Meharry. They gave more than $30,000 in cash and real estate to fund an institution that would educate medical professionals to serve the black community. By the mid-20th century, Meharry Medical College graduated approximately half the black doctors in the United States. The evolution of Meharry Medical College is a compelling story that occurs during succeeding eras. In many ways, its evolution reflects the changing tides of race relations in America.