History

Greeks in Queens is an interesting history of this often unwritten about New York community.

By the early 1900s, New York was becoming a melting pot for immigrants hailing from different nations. Though many settlers chose Manhattan as their home, others ventured forward into the borough of Queens. America itself was named the land of opportunity, and Greeks seeking those opportunities developed the largest Greek community outside of Athens in Astoria. Through the growth of the Greek community came Greek Orthodox schools and churches, the earliest in Queens being St. Demetrios, built in 1927, and Greek-owned businesses, especially catering halls like Crystal Palace, coffee shops (that now line busy Astoria streets), and diners. These establishments gave this special community a place to gather together and secure its standing and future in New York. Greeks in Queens traces the immigrant journey from Greece to America and shows how the Greeks—through wars, hard work, education, and dedication—developed a thriving and much larger community than their predecessors thought possible.

The Joseph Horne Company, popularly known as Horne’s, was a beloved and integral part of Pittsburghers' lives for generations.

It was the first department store in the Steel City, staking its ground at the landmark flagship store on Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street. Starting as a small dry goods store, the company expanded into a regional retail powerhouse with a reputation for selling high-quality goods in elegant spaces. Horne’s succumbed to the fate of other department stores amid changing consumer habits, and a short-lived stint as a Lazarus store was the final chapter in more than 140 years of history. The community still enjoys the tree on the corner of the former Horne's building, now Highmark, that is lit each year to usher in Pittsburgh's holiday season. Author Letitia Stuart Savage shares the history and memories of Horne’s department store.

Gravesend: The Home of Coney Island takes readers on a fascinating journey from the town's first settlement in the 1640s by Lady Deborah Moody, an intrepid and visionary leader of religious freedom, across four centuries of progress, conflict, and change. Containing over 120 black-and-white images, this stunning illustrated history brings to life early figures and events that shaped Gravesend's past and initiated Coney Island's prominence as the world's playground. Like a visitor of yesteryear, readers will stroll along the busy boardwalk, taste the world-famous hot dogs from Nathan's Restaurant, explore the renowned dance halls, race tracks, and casinos, and thrill at the kaleidoscopic assortment of roller coasters and other breathtaking rides, such as the Parachute Jump, at the celebrated Dreamland, Luna, and Steeplechase Parks.

The city of Bridgeton, New Jersey's largest historic district, was one of the state's leading commercial and industrial centers during the Victorian Era.

In this vibrant and exciting photographic history, local author Bill Chestnut brings to life the city's past from the advent of photography through the 1970s. Little-known historical facts about public buildings, recreational and cultural centers, schools, and churches are explored in the informative captions that accompany over 200 images in this collection. Memorable moments and events from the years gone by are illustrated in vivid detail, including the legendary Flood of 1934 that left the town without a span over the Cohansey River. Many scenes from Bridgeton's neighborhoods and neighboring communities reveal what life was like in the past of this old county town.

The city of Fulton lies twelve miles south of Lake Ontario on the Oswego River.

Early history reveals the importance of the river to the Native Americans and the European settlers. The early settlement's strategic location at the site of the waterfalls, with dangerous rapids below, contributed to the success of various industries that harnessed the waters' power. Fulton grew, flourished, and became a city having the distinct honor of being virtually unaffected by the Great Depression.

Fulton and the Oswego River contains a striking collection of hundreds of rare local photographs, together with the stories of the town, the river, and the people who have lived here. The early settlers, including blacksmith Daniel Masters and the Van Buren family come to life in these pages, as the reader imagines their early struggles. The building of the Erie and Barge Canals had a influence on the economy, as did the businesses that developed along the river: the flour mills, paper mills, and woolen mills, such as the American Woolen Mill, which made military uniforms on Oswego's banks through World War II.

This book is a wonderful journey into a rich and diverse past--a past that will prove fascinating to resident and visitor alike.

For more than 200 years Eatontown, Oceanport, and West Long Branch shared a proud history as one township, and this book covers that community's heritage from the Colonial and Victorian eras through the 1950s. It also highlights the importance of Fort Monmouth, a US Army communications research facility that has now been listed as a maritime site on the New Jersey Coast Heritage Trail. Through the pages of this book we meet presidents and magnates; read local newspapers from over a hundred years ago; learn the history of the Jersey Shore's horse-racing tradition; discover ghosts and grisly crimes; and experience war, industrial revolution, the coming of the railroad, and great disasters from our past. Above all, we meet the people who have created Eatontown over the centuries at work, at play, in church, and at school. This book is a wonderful journey into a rich and diverse past--a past that will prove fascinating to resident and visitor alike.

Founded in March 1912, DC branch of the NAACP quickly became the leading organization advocating for the city's Black community.

President Woodrow Wilson's institution of Jim Crow segregation in the federal government in the spring of 1913 galvanized the African American community of DC and the NAACP launched a formidable crusade against Wilson's racist policies. As the preeminent civil rights organization of the nation's capital, it also developed a dual role as a watchdog body to prevent the passage of legislation in Congress that negatively affected African Americans.

Archivist and historian Derek Gray chronicles and analyzes the work of the DC NAACP through the civil rights era to the achievement of Home Rule in the District.

Many Americans are familiar with Thomas Edison's invention factory in Menlo Park, where he patented the phonograph, the light bulb and more than one thousand other items. Yet many other ideas have grown in the Garden State, too.

New Jerseyans brought sound and music to movies and built the very first drive-in theater. In addition to the first cultivated blueberry, tasty treats like ice cream cones and M&Ms are also Jersey natives. Iconic aspects of American life, like the batting cage, catcher's mask and even professional baseball itself, started in New Jersey. Life would be a lot harder without the vacuum cleaner, plastic and Band-Aids, and many important advances in medicine and surgery were also developed here. Join author Linda Barth as she explores groundbreaking, useful, fun and even silly inventions and their New Jersey roots.

See how the Chincoteague and Assteague Islands came about and developed into a tourist destination today.

The thriving barrier islands of Chincoteague and Assateague entice over a million tourists to their shores every year. Adjacent to one another, these parcels of land jutting into the Atlantic have a symbiotic relationship - Chincoteague, a modern, developed community that thrives on tourism, helps attract visitors to neighboring Assateague, which in turn acts as a natural buffer against the surging tides and is home to Assateague Island National Seashore, a state park that provides protection for native flora and fauna and leisure activities for the nature lover.

Overlapping the border between Maryland and Virginia, Assateague Island remains an undisturbed natural habitat boasting extensive wetlands and wildlife. Images of the native inhabitants of this area abound - the ponies, birds, and sea life take center stage, while the sandy dunes and rolling ocean provide a beautiful backdrop. The families who made the island of Chincoteague their home, from as early as 1650, were a tough breed and, over the years, made many contributions to the improvement of their community. Schools, churches, and businesses were established, bridges were built, roads were paved, and waterways made navigable - all of this visually documented and now available in this remarkable volume.

Vintage and never before seen photographs document the histories of the New Jersey Caldwells.

Remembering the Caldwells offers a nostalgic view of three neighboring communities rich in history and character. This impressive collection of vintage photographs covers the period from the end of the 19th century to the eve of the millennium. These rare photographs, few of which have been shared with the public, are from the private collections of local families and archivists. Trace within these pages the emergence of a diversity of churches and schools, tour nationally significant historic homes, and explore the transportation system that helped shape the entire region. Remembering the Caldwells also features the Caldwells' connection with Grover Cleveland, from his parents' association with the town to his own residency in Caldwell. Join John J. Collins in this enlightening journey back in time to discover the people, places, and events that shaped the future of the Caldwells.

Award-winning author and historian Kerriann Flanagan Brosky uncovers some of the most ghastly and fascinating historical crimes committed on Long Island.

Beyond the idyllic countryside and suburban communities of Long Island lies a murky history of murder and mayhem. A Victorian romance went awry in Huntington when wealthy farmer Charles Kelsey was tarred, feathered and murdered in 1872. Thirty-five years before the famous witch trials of Salem, East Hampton had its own Puritan hysteria among charges of witchcraft. The 1937 kidnapping of wealthy heiress Alice Parsons shook the quiet town of Stony Brook and remains a mystery to this day.

As colonial New Yorkers expanded their housing and employment options beyond Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, southeast Queens became a destination for Dutch and English families who wanted more land and a better life.

Beyond the confines of the village of Jamaica in Queens emerged a community of strivers - farmers and entrepreneurs - who founded St. Albans in 1899. A housing boom in the 1920s and 1930s in Queens brought more residents with European heritage to St. Albans. Yankee slugger Babe Ruth spent so much time at the St. Albans Golf and Country Club that many area residents thought he lived there. Meanwhile, a racial covenant in Addisleigh Park, an affluent section of St. Albans, threatened to keep African Americans out of the neighborhood until the federal government outlawed the practice in 1948. Over time, many African American jazz musicians and entertainers along with middle- and working-class families have called St. Albans home. Today, St. Albans is a predominantly middle-class African American and Caribbean American neighborhood that continues to embrace its ambitious past through strong connections to business, civic, political, and religious groups.

Visit Milford of days gone by and glimpse the early English settlers who would shape tracts of land into a promising town. See how the area once called "Saw Mill Range" evolved from primitive woodlands into the commercial center known as Milford. Distinguish all the enterprising leaders who made Milford a thriving town with their innovations like canning and fruit drying and shipbuilding. The Mispillion River, Marshall's Mill, Milford Chronicle, Calvary Church, Slaughter Beach Hotel, Cedar Neck, the Levin Crapper Mansion built in 1763, Purity Row, along with the people, businesses, and events presented in this photographic celebration showcase what makes Milford an exceptional place to live and prosper.

Launched in Wilmington in 1997, Kalmar Nyckel—The Tall Ship of Delaware—is one of the region’s great educational resources, a floating classroom and inspirational platform for a broad array of land-and sea-based programs.

An accurate replica of the original Swedish naval vessel that launched the colony of New Sweden in the Delaware Valley in 1638, today’s Kalmar Nyckel voyages over 2,000 nautical miles and reaches more than 30,000 students, passengers, and visitors a year. A photographer’s dream wherever she goes, Kalmar Nyckel embodies America’s maritime heritage and has become one of Delaware’s defining treasures.

Samuel W. Heed, Esq., is the senior historian and director of education at the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, where since 2008 he has been developing the programs, exhibits, articles, and documentaries that bring the Kalmar Nyckel story to life and give it meaning. Heed serves on a number of nonprofit boards, including the Council of American Maritime Museums. The Kalmar Nyckel Foundation archives provided the primary resources for this book.

Explore the summertime traditions and discover all the ways that Lackawanna County's Italian community seeks to preserve its heritage.

Boasting one of the nation's largest and most diverse Italian-American populations, Lackawanna County in Northeastern Pennsylvania joins old and new generations alike. With events such as La Corsa dei Ceri - commonly referred to as St. Ubaldo Day - in Jessup on Memorial Day Weekend and La Festa Italiana on downtown Scranton's Courthouse Square over Labor Day Weekend, every town in the county with an Italian population has its own story. Whether the people can trace their origins to Guardia or Gubbio, Felitto or Perugia, the Italians of Lackawanna County all share one thing in common: a strong sense of pride in their ethnic origins.

With more than two hundred vintage images, Linwood presents the view along the road from Leedsville to Linwood. Treasured nineteenth-century homes throughout the community provide a glimpse of the early years. Featured are such personalities as sea captains Israel Adams and Peter Reed, blacksmith Harry Potter, teacher Lizzie Cavileer, and chief of police Jesse James. Also included are well-known locales, such as Stuber's and Hagerthey's corner stores, the Mill Pond, Linwood Station, Belhaven and Leedsville Schools, and historic area churches.

Sit back and buckle up for a fast-paced thrill ride into Delaware's rich racing history!

The earliest Delaware drivers raced on dusty tracks carved into a farmer’s field. Characters like Johnny Martin and Paul Walker helped establish racing in the state shortly after World War II. The latest generation races at the famed Georgetown Speedway and Delaware International Speedway, and drivers, owners and promoters like Ricky Elliott, Curt Michael and Brett Deyo make racing the thriving sport it is today. Through interviews and extensive research, author, Delaware native and racing historian Chad Wayne Culver has captured the stories of some of the state's best-known racing legends.

Chesapeake oysters are part of the legacy of the area, history on the half-shell. Read of their beginning (foot-long bivalves!) through cultivation today.

The eastern oyster, the humble bivalve and delicous treat, are the living bones of the Chesapeake, as well as the ecological and historical lifeblood of the region. When colonists first sailed these impossibly abundant shores, they described massive shoals of foot-long oysters but the bottomless appetite of the Gilded Age and great fleets of skipjacks took their toll. Disease, environmental pressures and overconsumption decimated the population by the end of the twentieth century. While Virginia turned to bottom-leasing, passionate debate continues in Maryland among scientists and oystermen whether aquaculture or wild harvesting is the better way forward. Today, boutique oyster farming in the Bay is sustainably meeting the culinary demand of a new generation of connoisseurs. With careful research and interviews with experts, author Kate Livie presents this dynamic story and a glimpse of what the future may hold.

The Legacy of Nursing at Albany Medical Center follows nursing from the age of strict curfews and required nursing uniforms to the modern era of greater nursing freedom and responsibility. As nursing practice evolved, so did attire. Hats, gloves, high collars, caps, and ankle-length dresses gave way to above-the-knee hemlines, pantsuits, scrubs, and bare heads. Among celebrated Albany graduates are Anne Strong (class of 1906), inducted into the Nursing Hall of Fame, and Nancy Cameron (class of 1900), decorated with the Royal Red Cross and received by Queen Alexandra during World War I.

Throughout its rich history, Baltimore has been known by many names: Mobtown, the Land of Pleasant Living, or Charm City to name a few.

Perhaps ""Beer Town"" would have been more appropriate. Several pivotal events in Maryland's history involved the brewing industry. Baltimore brewers were vital to building the fledgling town into the bustling city it is today. These brewers established some of the earliest churches in Baltimore. Eagle Brewery's Harry Von der Horst helped build the Orioles into a pennant-winning team in the 1890s. Mary Pickersgill sewed the stars upon the Star Spangled Banner on the floor of Brown's Brewery during the War of 1812.

Nestled in the Saucon Valley, Hellertown lies just south of Bethlehem, bordered on the west by the Saucon Creek.

While the creek derives its name from the Native American word sakunk, meaning ""place where a small stream enters into a larger stream,"" the town inherited its name from Christopher Heller and his descendants who settled the area in the mid-1700s. The 1800s brought a wave of Deutsch (German) immigrants to this corner of Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) country. During the latter years of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, Hellertown resembled any small town in America. Residents participated in world wars and suffered through the Great Depression while keeping their faith in democracy. Hellertown tells the story of these residents through more than two hundred photographs that have been donated to the Hellertown Historical Society during the last century. It shows the long-gone train station, Wagner's Grist and Saw Mill, and the Thomas Iron Company. Hellertown also offers snapshots of ""Big Bertha,"" the 1920 Dewey Fire Company No. 1 in action, a Sears home, the Hellertown girls' croquet team of the early 1900s, and some of the most influential residents from the past one hundred fifty years.

The year 2002 marks the 388th birthday of the settlement of a Dutch fur-trading fort on the west bank of the Hudson River. The year also marks the 350th anniversary of the founding of Beveryck, the permanent village that became Albany. Then & Now: Albany contains corner-by-corner views from four centuries. It focuses on the history as seen through the architectural transformation of a frontier village to a modern city. It is a pictorial field guide through the city's oldest streets.

The Nassau County Police Department was created in 1925 out of an urgent need for a professional law enforcement agency to provide swift, reliable, and trusted protection for its citizens

During those unprecedented times, Greater New York was rapidly encroaching on Nassau County's western border, and the escalating crime rate in this bucolic island setting was due in large part to the Volstead Act, which ushered in the mob-infused Roaring Twenties, with its related violent and turbulent unrest. After the rebellious 1920s and the Great Depression followed a long dark period of global hostilities and impending threats of homeland invasions from foreign enemies in World War II. The founding members of this department, equipped with little other than their dedication, bravery, fortitude, and self sacrifices, established a strong foundation for one of the finest police departments in the country today.

The Ontario & Western Railway Northern Division features photographs of the Ontario & Western, a railroad long on scenery but short on freight. The Ontario & Western inherited a railroad in search of revenue and a circuitous route that passed through one small community after another. Small wooden country depots dotted the line, locomotives of meager proportions pulled the trains, and dedicated employees did their best to keep the railroad solvent. The railroad is still fondly remembered today by those who rode its cars and witnessed its passing trains.

The remarkable story of the people, places, animals and everything in between that has the Seeing Eye the ultimate success.

The Seeing Eye traces its origin to the trenches and battlefields of World War I, where legions of soldiers were blinded during years of brutal engagements. After the war, Germany trained dogs to guide its blinded veterans. In the late 1920s, a small group of innovators took it upon themselves to teach blind and visually impaired people in North America to use dog guides. The Seeing Eye has since helped thousands to achieve greater independence, dignity, and self-confidence, using specially trained Seeing Eye dogs as their companions.

Using rare photographs and documents, The Seeing Eyedetails this remarkable organization and its pioneers, including German shepherd breeder and Seeing Eye founder Dorothy Harrison Eustis; Morris Frank, the first visually impaired American to learn to use a Seeing Eye dog; and Frank's own dog, Buddy. The story follows the first students as they navigate the busy streets of Nashville, Tennessee, in 1929, and Morris County, New Jersey, where the fledgling organization moved in 1931 and where it continues to operate today.The Seeing Eyedocuments the campuses and the students, as well as the faithful dogs, their care, and their training. The reader will meet the dedicated employees and volunteers who have made the organization possible, as well as the graduates who have gone on to lead successful and fulfilling lives.

Discover Maryland's legacy of daring women who made their mark on history as spies, would-be queens and fiery suffragettes.

Maryland's history is punctuated by women who refused to be forgotten.  Sarah Wilson escaped indentured servitude in Frederick by impersonating the queen's sister. In Cumberland, Sallie Pollock smuggled letters for top Confederate officials. Baltimore journalist Marguerite Harrison snuck into Russia to report conditions there after World War I. From famous figures like Harriet Tubman to unsung heroines like Lady Law Violet Hill Whyte, author Lauren R. Silberman introduces Maryland's most tenacious and adventurous women.

In the northwest corner of the Adirondack Park lie Cranberry Lake and the village of Wanakena.

This remote area was the last-settled part of New York State; from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, its name evoked the very essence of wilderness. Initially, sportsmen, naturalists, and artists flocked to the area. By 1900, summer tourism was booming. The logging industry followed, to harvest the virgin timber; after that, the state purchased the mostly cleared lands. Today, seventy-five percent of the lake's shoreline is state owned, and the Five Ponds Wilderness, south of Wanakena, is one of the largest and wildest areas in the Adirondacks.

Explore the fasciniating history of Prohibition in one of the places where it was most defied-- Baltimore, Maryland.

There was perhaps no region more opposed to Prohibition than Baltimore and Maryland. The Free State was defiant in its protest from thoroughly wet Governor Albert Ritchie to esteemed Catholic Cardinal James Gibbons. Maryland was the only state to not pass a baby Volstead enforcement act. Speakeasies emerged at Frostburg's Gunter Hotel and at Baltimore's famed Belvedere Hotel, whose famous owls' blinking eyes would notify its patrons if it was safe to indulge in bootleg liquor. Rumrunners were frequent on the Chesapeake Bay as bootleggers populated the city streets. Journalist H.L. Mencken, known as the Sage of Baltimore, drew national attention criticizing the new law. Author Michael T. Walsh presents this colorful history.

The towns of Northeast Philadelphia boast a rich and vibrant history, but many of their engrossing stories have been pushed into the background over time.

In this collection of historical columns, first published in the Northeast Times, Dr. Harry C. Silcox brings their narratives back into the spotlight. From the beginning, all major roads in the region went to Frankford, the site of the nation's first psychiatric hospital and the popular Unity Street open-air market. The town of Holmesburg offered shelter to the veterans of the stage in Edwin Forrest's Home for Aged Actors. Years before the civil rights movement, Greenbelt Knoll became Philadelphia's first planned racially integrated housing development. Even the nation's first solar energy-powered machine was developed in Northeast Philly. From tales of alligator wrestling to groundbreaking feats of aviation, Silcox weaves a fascinating tapestry of everyday American life.

Settled in 1665 as one of the Two Towns of the Navesink, the township of Shrewsbury played an important role in the development of Monmouth County.

One of the most historically areas in the New Jersey region, the original vast expanse of Shrewsbury Township has since evolved into a charming 2. 3 square-mile residential borough. In this vivid photographic history, author Randall Gabrielan has brought together over 200 vintage images that convey the special character of Shrewsbury through the years. Many of the organizations, people, and buildings that fostered the evolution of this community are represented here, and informative, well-researched captions document their individual historical contributions.

Images of America: Point Pleasant Volume II is an educational and entertaining volume that will delight residents, visitors, and lovers of history everywhere.

In Point Pleasant Volume II, historian Jerry Woolley continues the detailed look at Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, and Bay Head that he began in his wildly successful Volume I.

While still maintaining a historical perspective, Woolley has also included more recent photographs to give us a more contemporary view of the area. Bounded by the Manasquan River on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and Barnegat Bay and Beaver Dam Creek to the south, Point Pleasant's uniquely aquatic environment has long been one of the area's major attractions.

Drawn extensively from Jerry Woolley's archive of over a thousand historic photographs of the Point Pleasant area, many images in Volume II have never before been published. These pictures, together with the accompanying text, provide the reader with a fascinating and insightful look into the past that will appeal to both the lifelong resident and the first-time visitor. Woolley provides the reader with an intriguing look at the many waterfront faces of Point Pleasant.

The first baseball monument appeared at Green-Wood in 1862 to honor the game's first martyr and star, James Creighton Jr., initiating baseball's tradition of honoring its own with stone or bronze memorials. Green-Wood Cemetery has since served as a model for other tributes, including those found at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Yankee Stadium's Monument Park. Baseball Legends of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, through painstaking research, brings these baseball legends back to life with a compelling array of rare images that tell the story of the game's birth in Brooklyn, New York City, and Hoboken.

Saratoga Springs, New York examines the history of a town whose livelihood was threatened by drought and the outlawing of gambling.

People from all walks of life came to Saratoga Springs to enjoy horse racing, gambling and other popular vices. But when the springs dried up and gambling was outlawed, the town's future was in peril. Timothy Holmes presents the history of Saratoga and examines how the town managed to avoid the slow death that threatened to overtake it.

In 1865, industrialist/inventor Hezekiah Bradley Smith purchased Shreveville, later renamed Smithville, an abandoned textile mill and town located along the Rancocas Creek in Burlington County, for $20,000.

He moved many workers from his Lowell, Massachusetts, plant to the new location, rebuilt the factory, and prepared it for the manufacture of his patented iron woodworking machinery. Smith began to improve the aging housing in the surrounding village. He opened a school and, later, constructed a new school building. Smith erected a boardinghouse for factory workers that contained shops and a concert hall. Through farming on land adjacent to his mansion, he made fresh produce and milk available to his workers. Smith’s company also expanded into new industries by working with outside inventors, like George Washington Pressey, who needed a manufacturer for his American Star Bicycle. Later, Arthur Hotchkiss contacted the company to build the world’s first bicycle railroad to transport workers from Mount Holly to the Smithville factory. This book captures life in the village and factory, memorializing the intertwining lives of the Smithville workers and H.B. Smith through photographs.