Photography

Groveport and Madison Township, Ohio contains nearly two hundred vintage photographs that illustrate how the area grew from a nineteenth-century wilderness outpost to become the vibrant and successful place it is today. Featured here are the canal and railroad days that established the area as a local hub of transportation, the formation of the churches and school system that bind the village and township together, the region's spectacular architecture and some of the more notable people of the community, such as world-renowned horse trainer John S. Rarey of Groveport, who earned international fame as an original "horse whisperer."

In a town famous for its politics, one local favorite moves unchallenged across party lines. Sample secret recipes while delving in to the history of the Horseshoe Sandwich.

Open-faced, piled high with fries and slathered in cheese sauce, the Horseshoe Sandwich has represented Springfield cuisine since 1928. Tour the restaurants that have kept the tradition alive for almost a century, including bygone eateries like The Mill and contemporary stalwarts like Darcy’s Pint. From the “Clydesdale Challenge” to the biggest and strangest incarnations of the ’shoe, Carolyn Harmon and Tony Leone provide a comprehensive history of this delicious dish.

Believe in the Magic

The most wonderful time of the year has its own special meaning for those who grew up in the Queen City. The elves at Shillito’s and Pogie and Patter the talking reindeer were as integral to holiday merriment as caroling and eggnog. The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden really knows how to throw a Christmas party for people and animals, and WinterFest at Kings Island provides much-needed warmth in the winter chill. Many city squares display Christmas trees bathed in lights and offer horse-drawn carriages or a skating rink. But only Cincinnati offers Santa rappelling down the face of a building and an ice skating rink with bumper cars.

Join local author Wendy Hart Beckman for a merry jaunt through Yuletide years gone by.

Named for the network of lakes and waterways stretching along the city’s western edge, the Lake District helps define Minneapolis as a place of great natural beauty.   With stately homes lining the parkways surrounding these bodies of water, the district may convey an image of affluence and prestige, but the district is not an exclusive preserve of the well-to-do. People from all walks of life flock to the area’s parks and lakes that serve as public playgrounds for the entire region. The Lake District was not always the public amenity that it is today. During the late 19th century, much of the area consisted of marshy swamps that had little recreational or economic value. It took a group of forward-looking civic leaders to recognize the undeveloped area’s potential. In the 1880s, they came together to form the Minneapolis Park Board, the public agency that would acquire and improve the lakes, preserving them for future generations. /Iric Nathanson tells the story of this appealing urban district using archival images from the Hennepin County Library Special Collections and the Minnesota Historical Society. Nathanson’s most recent work, University Avenue of the Twin Cities, was published in 2023 as part of Arcadia’s Images of America series.

Like the Cheshire Cat, much of Chicago’s history fades away while perched in plain sight.

For more than a century, the brick walls of the city served as a ready canvas for advertisements that married artistic experimentation and commercial endeavor. Intrepid painters planted signs for horseshoers and Hamlin’s Wizard Oil in places where they would outlast the way of life they represented. Since author Joseph Marlin began documenting the city’s advertisements more than thirty years ago, many of them have completely vanished beneath the onslaught of blizzard and bulldozer. From national brands to mom-and-pop shops, his collection offers the last glimpse of a bygone era.

Spartan tradition is more than the coaches and players on the field, however, and Michigan State Football: They Are Spartans offers many rare images and long-forgotten anecdotes about how the program became a player on the national stage. The early days as a farm college team, the development into a football power as an independent, the successful struggle to join the Big Ten conference, and of course, the historic rivalry with a certain team from Ann Arbor are all recounted in the pages of this book.

The falls of the Ohio River at Louisville presented a considerable obstacle to this floating traffic, and vessels traveling on this major waterway were forced to portage their cargo around the turbulent waters. In 1812, three enterprising brothers from New York, Abner, Joel, and Nathaniel Scribner, bought land at the western end of the rapids and named their new settlement New Albany in honor of the capital of their native state. Their village became the head of downriver navigation on the Ohio and evolved from a backwoods settlement into Indiana's largest city, a lively river town where steamboats, textiles, sheet music, automobiles, and pastries have all been manufactured. Natural disasters have periodically changed the face of the city, but New Albany has always recovered due to the determination of its citizens. This collection of vintage images portrays the triumphs and tragedies of these residents.

Cleveland's Playhouse Square documents the fascinating history of the five theatres which boomed, beginning in the 1920s.

In the early 1920s, five opulent theaters--the Allen, the Ohio, the State, the Palace, and the Hanna--opened on a stretch of Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. They offered legitimate theater, vaudeville, name bands and entertainers, and films for the affluent and hardworking citizens of this booming industrial city. Unfortunately, the introduction of television and the flight to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s turned the theaters into ghost palaces destined for the wrecking ball. In 1970, a bold group of planners led by Raymond K. Shepardson formed the Playhouse Square Association, a nonprofit group dedicated to saving the theaters. A 25-year restoration endeavor emerged that raised $53 million, culminating in the largest theater restoration project in the world. Today Playhouse Square Center ranks second only to New York's Lincoln Center as North America's largest performing arts complex.

Are you aware that the Southern Railway once used half of the railroad tunnels in the state? Indiana's first railroad, built in Shelbyville, was only a mile long, but in 1847, completion of a major steam railroad from Madison to Indianapolis made the state's capital a center of transportation. Unlike canals, railroads could be built just about anywhere. Southern Indiana's quickly growing network of rail lines was able to haul tons of goods at low cost, and enabled settlers to travel great distances in a single day. Railroad Depots of Southern Indiana takes the reader on a journey through the towns and cities that shape Indiana's railroad lore. Images depict regional rail history from the inner workings of now demolished depots to one of the oldest "short lines" in Indiana. Through more than 200 vintage photographs, author David E. Longest documents locomotives, rail equipment, the moving of stock, depots, rail stations, and freight houses, and finishes with a tour of the rail museums and excursions that still allow tourists and aficionados to "ride the rails."

When a young man from the Netherlands by the name of Jacob Munster opened Munster's General Store, complete with a small U.S. Postal Station in the back, more residents populated the area, and the "Town of Munster" was founded in 1907. Munster, Indiana is a photographic tour of the places, people, and events that have shaped the Town of Munster from the 1850s onward. Nearly 250 historically significant images capture the town's growth from a simple farming community to the bustling town it is today.

Indiana's history and early settlement began along the Ohio River and includes prehistoric Native American sites, 400-million-year-old Devonian fossil beds, the site where Lewis and Clark first met on the Corps of Discovery voyage, and Indiana's first state capitol. Communities along the Ohio River Scenic Byway include Lawrenceburg, Aurora, Rising Sun, Vevay, Madison, Jeffersonville, Clarksville, New Albany, Corydon, Leavenworth, Cannelton, Tell City, Troy, Rockport, Newburgh, Evansville, and Mount Vernon. The byway celebrates the scenic, recreational, and historic in its architecture, winding roads, and overlooks.

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

The village of Niles began during the Black Hawk War of 1832as the pioneer settlement of Dutchman's Pointon the North Branch of the Chicago River.

Incorporated in 1899, the new village's thriving business district was established along Milwaukee Avenue. During Prohibition, Niles was the gateway to rural bohemia, the roadhouse district of suburban speakeasies and resorts north of Chicago. Niles's Tam O'Shanter Country Club, arguably the birthplace of modern professional golf, rose to international prominence during the Great Depressionand continued to host the sport's most exclusive tournaments long after World War II.

Behind the village's colorful past, another Niles existed, grounded by strong agrarian values and a deep sense of community pride--the truck farms of Maine and Niles Townships. These gentleman farmers and their families formed the backbone of local culture, and their influence is still felt today.

Before the rise of automobiles, where new trolley car lines were built, people, businesses, and neighborhoods followed, and trolleys quickly helped Chicago become a world-class city.

Chicago's extensive transit system first started in 1859, when horsecars ran on rails in city streets, cable cars and electric streetcars following soon after, but once trolleys appeared on the scene, Chicago metaphorically exploded. At its peak, Chicago had over 3,000 streetcars and 1,000 miles of track—the largest such system in the world. By the 1930s, there were also streamlined trolleys and trolley buses on rubber tires. Some parts of Chicago's famous L system also used trolley wire instead of a third rail. Trolley cars once took people from the Loop to such faraway places as Aurora, Elgin, Milwaukee, and South Bend. Though seemingly-outdated in the 21st century, there are still a few trolleys running today for anyone who prefers to take the scenic route.

Travel through time to meet the people and visit the places that have given Downers Grove its rich, unique heritage.

On a May evening in 1832, a solitary 50-year-old man on horseback rode toward an oak grove that rose majestically from the quiet Illinois prairie. Stopping at this beautiful site, the man bent a sapling to mark his claim to the rich Illinois farmland that would be his for the settling. In that singular act, Pierce Downer founded the town that would bear his name: Downers Grove, Illinois.

He could hardly have imagined the remarkable development of the bucolic prairie town, 22 miles west of Chicago, as it grew to a thriving suburb with a population of nearly 50,000. Many unique and influential people have shaped the history of Downers Grove.

Meet the pioneer residents, stroll the historic business district and discover the unique architecture of Galena, Illinois!

Galena, IL, nestled in the bluffs of the Mississippi River in northwest Illinois, is one of the most historic communities in the region. The townspeople take pride in the rich history of their town, dedicating their time to restoration projects and the booming industry of heritage tourism.

Many of the images (c. 1826-1940s) in the book come from the Galena/Jo Daviess Historical Museum that sponsors the project, the Alfred Mueller collection, the Illinois Historic Sites Office and private collections.

Ever since the first settlers arrived in 1816, Parma has seen steady growth, residentially and industrially.

It was once called Greenbrier, named after the thorny shrubs abundant in the area. Parma became a city in 1931 and is now the largest suburb of Cleveland as well as the seventh-largest city in Ohio. The city is home to notable landmarks such as General Motors and Cuyahoga Community College. One of the homes in Parma was even a stop on the Underground Railroad. From the first tavern opening in 1819 to presidential candidates dining at local establishments, Parma is full of inspiring people, places, and history that have made the city what it is today. The historical images in this book bring to life the stories and people of the past, which will carry on to future generations.

One of the unsung heroes of the auto world, C. Harold Wills designed the Model T when he worked as Henry Ford's right-hand man.

Later, he founded his own company to produce the legendary Wills Sainte Claire. Every endeavor displayed his trademark inventiveness, from the development of the overhead cam engine to the toboggan run on the roof of his house. He used his money to create one of the first worker model cities at Marysville, Michigan. In this long-overdue biography, Alan and Lynn Lyon Naldrett preserve the legacy of an automotive icon.

Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2018.

Begun in 1918 as the Eastern Division of the Indiana State Normal School, Ball State remained a branch campus of Indiana State until 1929 when it became Ball State Teachers College, Indiana's fourth public institution of higher education. In 1965 the teachers college became Ball State University. Throughout its history, Ball State's distinguishing characteristic has been the positive interactions between students, faculty, and members of the community. This book will show how these interactions have worked out at Ball State in the classroom, on the athletic field, and in social organizations such as student government, fraternities, sororities, and clubs throughout the region. The book will also show how the members of the Ball family have played a major role in the growth and development of the university.

During those years, this region of 26 counties, from which Indiana and much of the Old Northwest had developed a century before, was in transition toward consumerism and mass culture, as symbolized by automobiles, road-building, movies, radio, and popular magazines. Southern Indiana celebrated the state's centennial; political progressivism in the era contributed to, among other things, prohibition and women's suffrage. Americans for the first time sent young men off to war in Europe. The vintage photographs included in this book, culled from 20 private and public collections, are representative of southern Indiana. They show people at work, at play, in worship and school, in clubs and organizations, in travel, and at war. Most have never before been published. Once the most populous section of the state, the area o the south became much less so. Culturally--especially in the woods, hills, and valleys of the un-glaciated center of the district--southern Indiana retained its upper South character. It remained largely rural and agricultural. Most settlements were isolated and small; many communities had been losing popularity and people because of hard times on the farm and the appeal of larger cities.

Local historian Yance Marti uncovers the rough and rowdy blackguards who once made Milwaukee infamous.

The Cream City of yesteryear was a dingy haven for scofflaws and villains. Red-light districts peppered downtown's landscape, but none had the enduring allure of River Street, where Kitty Williams and Mary Kingsley operated high-class brothels. Chinese opium dens flourished in the backrooms of laundries. The demise of the Whiskey Ring brought down local distillers in a nationwide scandal that nearly reached the Oval Office. As a result, Police Chief John Janssen and the Committee to Investigate White Slavery and Kindred Vice waged a protracted battle to contain the most brazen offenses.

Discover the Motor City before the motor: a muddy port town full of grog shops, horse races, haphazard cemeteries and enterprising bootstrappers from all over the world.

Meet the argumentative French fugitive who founded the city, the tobacco magnate who haunts his shuttered factory, the gambler prankster millionaire who built a monument to himself, the governor who brought his scholarly library with him on canoe expeditions and the historians who helped create the story of Detroit as we know it: one of the oldest, rowdiest and most enigmatic cities in the Midwest.

Since the end of the American Revolution, Native Americans, pioneer farmers, industrialists and factory workers settled across the county in hamlets, villages and towns of all sizes.

Nearly one hundred distinct settlements existed in what we now call Delaware County. Some of these communities survived the ebb and flow of history to prosper, while others disappeared, becoming lost in the collective memory. Today, many residents would only recognize the city of Muncie and the towns of Albany, Daleville, Eaton, Gaston, Selma and Yorktown. A few might know of villages such as Desoto, New Burlington, Smithfield and Wheeling. Most have probably never heard of Dogtown, Gate’s Corner, Granville and Soccum. Drawing on years of research, local historian Chris Flook uncovers the stories of these lost towns.

Relive Conneaut's transformation from a sleepy agricultural village on the Lake Erie shore to a progressive, flourishing industrial center in this pictorial history.

From 1880 to 1890, the population of Conneaut doubled as a new railroad was formed and its yard and shops created new opportunities for people seeking a better way of life in this growing town.

The harbor, with its long-forgotten shipbuilding heritage, was revived and leaped ahead of its neighbors to become the fastest iron ore-unloading port in the world, thanks to the vision of a Scottish weaver's son. Italian, Finnish, and Hungarian immigrants arrived to work the docks and build the infrastructure needed to support the city's mushrooming population, doubling again in the next decade. During these early years, the residents enjoyed electric lighting, streetcars, and other amenities not available in larger cities throughout America.

Conneaut's history unfolds here through historic images that document the building of homes, schools, churches, hospitals, and new industries.

Throughout its existence, Dearborn has been a pioneer settlement, a multicultural hub, a college town, a major tourism center and a world-renowned industrial city.

Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors, significant structures have been lost to time. Almost all of the eleven U.S. Arsenal complex buildings have disappeared since the arsenal was closed in 1875. The hallways of the Edison School and Oxford School still live on in the hearts of their students but were razed long ago. Even beloved edifices such as the Ford Rotunda and the Ford Motor Company Administration building are now only a memory. Author Craig E. Hutchison endeavors to immortalize the important foundational building blocks of an evolving city.

The heritage of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, is shaped by water but has rapidly developed into a woodenware manufacturer of world significance.

The heritage of Two Rivers has been shaped by water. The rare conjunction of Lake Michigan with a dual river system compelled the Potawatomi and Menominee as well as the first American settlers. People of the First Nations plied the lake and rivers in search of whitefish, while initial American settlers sought fish and timber and appreciated the commercial potential of the harbor.

As the years went on, Two Rivers quickly grew into a woodenware manufacturer of world significance. When native forests diminished, the community demonstrated patterns typical of a small American town. Businesses, schools, churches and public services grew and thrived. Through periods of growth, decline, and stability, the lake and the rivers have given the community its distinctiveness. Located on a small peninsula almost 90 miles north of Milwaukee, Two Rivers's climate has also earned it a reputation as ""the coolest spot in Wisconsin.""

From the Portage Path and prohibition to water recreation and Portage State Park , journey through over 300 years of Portage Lakes's history in this photographic tale.

Portage Lakes is a unique area that lies within the boundaries of Coventry Township and the cities of Green and New Franklin. Within the last century, the communities have gradually moved from agrarian in nature to those of classical developing suburbs. Portage Lakes is rich in history that connects it to the Ohio Erie and Pennsylvania/Ohio Canals, Delaware Indians, Portage Path, the Ohio Department of Parks and Recreation, Portage Lakes State Park, Connecticut land grants, the Western Reserve, Prohibition, coal mining, and water-sport recreation.

Local author Jacob R. Mecklenborg reveals a fresh, thought-provoking, full examination of the Cincinnati subway's demise and what its future might hold.

What of those ghostly catacombs that lie dormant below city streets? Those subway tunnels, never finished, never filled with the screeches of trains and the busy commotion of commuters. Just there. Dead. You've heard of the subway's demise. The tunnels were too narrow. The city was too broke. A grand miscalculation. Well, most of what you've heard is, sorry to say, untrue. The popular story of the subway's demise is myth-laden and as incomplete as the original plan. The full story, long buried in mounds of public records dispersed in libraries, is now exposed.

Shaker Heights achieved international renown in the early 20th century as an enclave for wealthy residents - a city of stunning homes, substantial green space, an excellent school system, and attentive municipal services.

Cleveland entrepreneurs O. P. and M. J. Van Sweringen established Shaker Heights as a haven from the stresses of city life and claimed a connection with previous residents of this land, the North Union settlement of Shakers. Shaker communities sought to create paradise on earth by living communally and focusing on the life of the spirit. Buyers in Shaker Heights were assured that their paradise would last forever because of restrictions on what could be built and who could live there. Nevertheless, Shaker Heights has changed from a protected environment for the wealthy to a stable, integrated city that intentionally promotes diversity in its population. This is a remarkable story of dramatic change but also continuity as residents pursue the goal of creating an ideal community.

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

Located in northeast Ohio, Willoughby began as a community of mills and cabins clustered along the banks of the Chagrin River. The first settlers arrived before 1800 and were hardy New Englanders who brought their religious beliefs, their love of country, their respect for education, and their architecture to the wilderness.

By 1853, when the village was incorporated, they had established churches, homes, businesses, and schools, including a medical college. Before the century was over, the arrival of two rail lines and an electric streetcar company transformed the quiet little town into a bustling center of commerce and enterprise. Since then, Willoughby, known as the Courtesy City, has continued to grow and prosper while retaining the look and feel of an earlier era.

Historic homes still line its residential streets, while several blocks of the commercial district are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Painesville, the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, once had nearly twice the population of nearby Cleveland. First settled by those of European descent in 1800, the city’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed over the years.

Painesville is best known for its vibrant nursery industry, once the largest in the world; its picturesque and historic town square; and its collection of public parks, many of which overlook the scenic Grand River. The city is the home of Lake Erie College and a 284-acre historic district filled with elegant late-19th- and early-20th-century homes. The community was also very active in the abolitionist and suffrage movements, and many Painesville houses, taverns, and churches were stations along the Underground Railroad in the pre–Civil War years. Today, the city is positioned for a bright future, with new businesses and services investing in the community.

A resident of northeast Ohio for more than two decades, Sandy Mitchell Pavick is a full-time writer and active participant in community affairs. She has penned three previous titles about Ohio history for Arcadia Publishing. For Painesville, Pavick has delved into a variety of private and library archives for images, many of which have never been published.

The rural landscape of Henry County, Indiana, offers a bumper crop of captivating stories deeply rooted in history.

John “Snowball” Merida’s towering, crowd-thrilling home runs could have landed him in the Major Leagues were it not for his skin color. Native son Gen. Omar Bundy refused to retreat in World War I. His decision in all probability saved Paris from the Germans. A solitary chimney stack is an oddity in a green landscape, but it was in this spot more than a hundred years ago that a decision changed the course of New Castle history.

Compiling stories of brave veterans and basketball heroes, nationally known catchphrases and political could-have-beens, author and local historian Darrel Radford uncovers lost gems from Henry County’s past.

Russell County, Kansas, is the heart of the heartland.   

Settled in 1871 by a colony of Volga Germans from Ripon, Wisconsin, the area that would become Russell County attracted homesteaders from as far away as Russia, Poland, and Germany. The county was a hub for farming, livestock, and eventually oil and was served by stagecoaches, the railroad, and the interstate highway system. The city of Russell, with a population that has never surpassed 7,000, was the childhood home of two US senators—Bob Dole and Arlen Specter. The county is best known as the home of Wilson Lake (renowned for the clarity of its water), for its buildings and fences made of native limestone, and for the hearty breed of people who continue to make this their home. 

Author Linda Crowder has worked with the Russell County Historical Society to select images that best tell the story of the county’s first 150 years. The city of Russell is home to half of the county’s population, but the communities of Milberger, Dorrance, Dubuque, Fairport, Paradise, Waldo, Luray, Lucas, Bunker Hill, and Gorham are an important part of the story. The history of Russell County is the history of the American prairie.

Since Lewis and Clark's exploration, the area has had its share of interesting history. Using over 200 historic photographs, Gregory and Charles Mix Counties awakens the area's past and highlights some of its most unique attributes.

The unique history of Effingham County is closely tied to the development of transportation through America's heartland.

Beginning with the old National Road, through the golden age of railroads, onward to today's interstate highway system, the county has developed alongside the nation's great transportation innovations. Given the county's location between Chicago to the north, St. Louis to the west, and Indianapolis to the east, it is easy to justify the ""Heart of the USA"" and ""Crossroads of America"" designations. Effingham County, however, is more than railroad yards and highway interchanges. This book shows the rich fabric of life woven throughout the history of the city of Effingham and smaller towns, including Teutopolis, Altamont, Beecher City, Dieterich, Watson, Mason, Edgewood, Montrose, and Shumway.