Chicago has a population of 2.7 million, making it the third most populous city in the U.S. It was incorporated in 1837. In 1871 much of Chicago was consumed in a major fire which left over 100,000 homeless. Thirty years after being rebuilt, it was the fifth largest city in the world! Many noteworthy buildings from the past are still standing. Examples are:

The Art Institute

Founded in 1879, The Art Institute is one of the oldest art museums in the country and the second largest. The current building opened in 1893 for the second year of the Columbian Exposition. The first photo is dated 1900, the second 1905.

Marshall Field & Company

The building housing the Marshall Field’s store was built in phases from 1881-1909. It had 1.3 million square feet of retail space over 12 floors and for a while was “the world’s largest department store.” It was acquired in 2006 by Macy’s, which has done a suburb job of maintaining the Field’s traditions. For an excellent article on what they have done, go to visitmacys.com and scroll down to The Fascinating History of Macy’s on State St. The first photo is undated.

Navy Pier

Navy Pier opened in 1916 as a shipping dock and was named to honor Navy veterans returning from WWI. It reaches out 3,000 feet into Lake Michigan, covers 50 acres, and currently hosts two million visitors a year, making it one of the top attractions in the Mid-West. The first photo is dated 1916.

The Museum of Science and Industry

The Museum of Science and Industry Museum was originally constructed in 1893 as the Palace of Fine Arts for the Columbian Exposition. The building is the only major one not destroyed when the fair closed It was later renovated and opened as the museum in 1933. The first photo is dated 1893.

H.H. Bennett was a photographer most noted for his pictures of the Wisconsin Dells area. He started in 1865 upon his return from the Civil War and continued until his death in 1908. He invented the stop-action shutter, the effect of which is best seen in the Stand Rock photo below. He also invented a solar printing house. Since electricity was not available, the house on a circular track was moved during the day via pulley and cable, providing sufficient light for taking pictures and printing them. (See blog entry for May 2013 for a picture.) On a 100-mile river trip he chronicled the life of lumber raftsmen in 30 pictures, combined them with narration, and, in the process, invented photo journalism. Unless otherwise noted, the following photos are dated 1880s.

Bennett Home 1901

Stand Rock 1886

Romance Cliffs

The Narrows

Luncheon Hall

Lower Jaws

Chapel Gorge

Sugar Bowl 1899

These photos show Mark Twain’s office building on the left in the first shot and the International Hotel at the end of C street in the second They both were destroyed in the October 26, 1875 fire which burned for nine hours and consumed over 2,000 structures.

Sutro Tunnel

The huge Comstock Lode mining district needed to drain water, and Adopho Sutro stepped in to solve the problem. Construction of the Sutro Tunnel began in 1869 but was not completed until 1878. Sutro then sold out and moved to San Francisco and became mayor. The first photo was taken in the late 1880s.

Bowers Mansion

Many millionaires were created during Virginia’s heyday and they built opulent homes to show off their new wealth The Bowers Mansion, built in 1863, was one. The photo is dated in the 1860s.

Savage Mansion

The Savage mine office occupied the first floor off the Savage Mansion, with the superintendent residing on the top two floors. The mansion was built in 1861, and the bottom photo shows it in the 1870s.

Fourth Ward School

The Fourth Ward School was built one year after the 1875 fire and remained open for the next 60 years, closing in 1936. It sat idle for decades and then reopened as a museum in 1986. The first photo is undated

Old Washoe Club

The Old Washoe Club had a roster of 50+ newly minted millionaires when it opened in June of 1875. Four months later the building was severely damaged in the fire, and the Club moved to the C Street structure in 1876. The luxury club closed in 1897 when the mines played out. The building is now a saloon and museum with ghost tours. The first photo is undated.

Virginia City, NV, became a boom town with the discovery of silver in the Comstock Lode in 1859. Four years later a reporter for the city’s newspaper, a man by the name of Samuel Clemens, first used the name Mark Twain. By 1873 the population of Virginia City had grown to 25,000. The numerous mines eventually would produce $1,200,000,000 (in today’s dollars), causing Virginia City to be known as the richest city in the U. S. Much of the original town remains and major points of interest include:

C Street

Many of the same businesses that were there 150 years ago are still in business. C Street annually ranks in the top ten Historic Main Streets in America, and Virginia City itself was the largest historic landmark ever to be added to the National Registry of Historic Places. The first photo is undated and the third shows three bars in the 1940s.

Bucket of Blood Saloon

In 1875 most of Virginia City was destroyed in a massive fire. The following year the Bucket Of Blood Saloon opened and is still a must-stop on any tour of the town. The first photo was taken in the 1940s.

Piper Opera House

The Piper Opera House was built in 1885 and hosted the likes of Caruso, Houdini, John Phillip Sousa, and Al Jolson. It was a silent movie theater until the building was condemned in 1920. It sat vacant for the next 20 years and  then reopened in 1940 as a museum. In the 1970s it was restored and opened as a theater and concert venue. Storey County purchased the property in 2017, and the facility continues as a successful performing arts center. The first photo is dated 1933.

Belle Isle is a 982-acre park located on the Detroit River within the City 0f Detroit MI. It is the most-visited state park in Michigan. Facilities include an aquarium, a conservatory, the Great Lakes Museum, a nature center, fountains, a golf course, a yacht club, and a venue for public events. The first photo, dated ca.1910, shows the  Casino, which was used for public events, not gambling, in spite of its name. The third photo shows boaters on their way to a band concert in 1907. The Detroit Yacht Club appears in the fourth photo dated 1905. The Aquarium was the longest continuously operated aquarium in the U.S. when it closed in 2005. It is now open on a limited basis and is seen here in a photo dated 1908.

The Denver City Park,  which consists of 330 acres on the west side of Denver, was built in 1882. In 1896 the  Denver Zoo  started in the Park with one eagle and one bear. While it was growing, the Denver Nature and Science Museum opened in 1908. Use of the park now includes gardens, lakes, fountains, ponds, boat and bike rentals,  mountain vistas, pathways, soccer fields, playgrounds, a 5K running track and 14 greenhouses, which supply flowers and plants to the city’s other 100 plus parks. Average annual attendance is three million. The first photo is dated ca.1905 and the third is dated 1910. People motored in the park as well, as seen in the last photo.

The Boston Common (no s) is the oldest city park in the U.S. It began in 1634 and was first used more as a cow pasture than as a city park. It was later occupied by British troops during the Revolution. It then became the center of political activity, protests, and rallies as well as recreation.  Many pathways, monuments, and fountains are scattered throughout its 50 acres. In 1895 the first subway in the U.S. was opened adjacent to the Common. The first station on Tremont St. is still there, as is the second on Park St. seen here in the first, undated photo. The third photo shows Frog Pond in 1919 and the fifth shows the famous swan boats in the 1920s.

Eden Park started out as 12 acres of donated land in Cincinnati in 1869 and now comprises 186 acres offering numerous activities and spectacular views of the Ohio River. The first photo shows the main gate in 1904. The third is  the main drive in 1921, while the fourth photo is undated and shows the band shell. Following that is an undated photo of the 1894 water tower, then a photo of the iconic Spring House in 1904. The latter structure is featured prominently in the newly released true crime book The Ghosts of Eden Park. For more photos and a virtual tour of the Park, go to cincinnativiews.net/parks.

The Palace of Fine Arts is located in the Marina District of San Francisco. It was built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition–a world’s fair to celebrate completion of the Panama Canal and showcase San Francisco’s progress since the 1906 earthquake. Originally built to display art, from 1934 through 1942, it housed 18 tennis courts and, during WWII, was used to store jeeps and trucks. The first photo shows a bird’s eye view of the fair, with the original Palace in the lower right corner of the picture. The second photo is a panorama of the Palace in 1919.

The Palace was the only building not torn down after the Fair was over, at least until 1964 that is. After 49 years the “temporary” building was considered unsafe and was demolished. The replacement structure is an exact duplicate of the original. To take a walking tour of the Exposition and see many great photographs, go to the National Park Service’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition site (nps.gov.goga/learn/history/culture/ppie-the exposition.htm).

Patterson Park is located in Baltimore MD. It began as six acres of land donated in 1827 and now comprises 137. The Park’s high ground was the site of a major battle in the War of 1812. An observatory in the form of a pagoda was built in 1891 and remains a major attraction. The Boat Lake was created when a military installation was removed  in 1864, towards the end of the Civil War. The first photo shows Boat Lake in 1890. The third photo shows visitors on the Pagoda steps in 1893.