These vintage images of American cities in the early 1900s capture everything from the ruins of San Francisco just after the 1906 earthquake to the barely-developed patch of desert that would soon become Las Vegas.
Library of CongressNew York’s City Hall Park, circa 1913, with primitive airplanes flying overhead. With the park now surrounded by buildings three and four times the height of these, no such aircraft would be able to fly here today.
Today, taking a panoramic photo is as easy as pressing a button on our phones. But in the early 20th century, though panoramic illustrations had existed previously, panoramic photographs were a new and revelatory way of capturing our world.
Furthermore, this new photographic technology emerged just as American cities began to grow at unprecedented rates. Following the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution transformed America’s urban landscapes. Shockingly tall buildings went up in New York and Chicago, oil fields led to boomtowns across the West, and patches of desert started to turn into places like Reno and Las Vegas.
All the while, both professional and amateur photographers were able to harness the latest technology and capture sweeping panoramas of these cityscapes just as urban life in America was changing forever.
In the photos at the bottom of this post, discover a stunning collection of panoramas depicting American cities at the turn of the 20th century. But first, learn more about this pivotal moment in U.S. history.
A Brief History Of Early Panoramic Photos And How They Developed
Public DomainA panorama from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, taken in February 1864. Many early panoramas, including this one by George Barnard, were taken for the Union Army during the Civil War.
By the turn of the 20th century, people around the world had long been able to enjoy panoramic illustrations. But panoramic photography was still only a very new, and very rare, technology.
Cameras had been invented in the 1820s, when Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took the world’s first photo. Over the decades, the technology improved, while still remaining largely primitive by modern standards.
Soon, enterprising photographers began to experiment with new formats, including panoramas.
As the Library of Congress reports, many early panoramas were created by simply placing several daguerreotypes side by side. One 1851 photo of San Francisco by an unidentified photographer, for example, was later made into a panorama in 1910 by Martin Behrman, who placed the five daguerreotypes plates in order to produce the full range of the image.
By the turn of the 20th century, however, new cameras had been been developed that could more easily take panoramic photos. In 1898, the Al-Vista, the first mass-produced American panoramic camera, was introduced. The next year, Eastman Kodak introduced the #4 Kodak Panoram panoramic camera.
Library of CongressThe heart of Las Vegas, circa 1910, roughly five years after the city was founded and more than 20 years before casinos were legalized, setting this very scene on the path toward becoming the gleaming hub of glitz and gambling that it is today.
It then became much more simple to take panoramic photos. And at the same time, American cities were dramatically transforming as the Industrial Revolution swept the country in the wake of the Civil War.
Emerging American Cities At The Turn Of The 20th Century
Between 1880 and 1920, the populations of America’s cities skyrocketed.
Not only were immigrants from abroad pouring into places like New York City, but many rural Americans were also moving into urban centers as industry replaced agriculture as the primary economic force in many parts of the country. According to the Library of Congress, some 40 percent of the townships in the United States saw a decrease in their population during this time as rural Americans moved to cities in search of greater opportunities.
And as the cities grew, they transformed.
In New York City, between the last years of the 19th century and the opening chapter of the 20th century, skyscrapers began to climb toward the heavens. Between 1889 and 1914, a number of supertall buildings were built in the city, including the Tower Building in 1899 and the Flatiron in 1902. Development in New York especially unfolded so rapidly that, one after the other, the Singer Tower (1908), the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building (1909), and the Woolworth Building (1914) were all briefly the tallest building in the world before they were passed by the next in line.
Library of CongressA panorama of New York from the turn of the century. The Singer Building and Metropolitan Life Tower are both visible in the city’s emerging skyline.
“Shoving a mountain of steel and stone bodily up into the blue sky is the modern miracle which makes even New York stop, look and listen, as they say at the railroad crossing,” The Sun wrote in 1912.
Industrialization changed cities in other ways too. Many of the photos below seem to be tinted with a haze — a probable sign of air pollution. The growth of skyscrapers, public transportation, and car culture led to traffic jams, smog-filled skies, and plenty of resultant health problems. Meanwhile, many immigrants moving into places like New York City were packed into tenements, further adding to the harsh conditions of urban life.
In these ways, and many others, American life was becoming something new, something never seen before. And the panoramas below capture a wide-angle view of this changing world.
Go back to the turn of the 20th century with these vintage urban panoramas of American cities below.
Due to the width of these images, we recommend viewing on desktop for the optimal experience.
Library of CongressA hot air balloon over Chicago circa 1900.
Library of CongressA bird’s eye view of Chicago. 1912.
Library of CongressMichigan Avenue in Chicago. Date unspecified.
Library of CongressChicago skyline. 1926.
Library of CongressNew York City in 1900, before the island of Manhattan was filled with skyscrapers.
Library of CongressAnother view of the New York City waterfront. 1909.
Library of CongressNew York City’s Madison Square. Date unspecified.
Library of CongressNew York City’s famous Coney Island. 1911.
Library of CongressNew York City from the Hudson River. 1900.
Library of CongressThe Brooklyn Bridge. 1896.
Library of CongressAlbany, New York. Date unspecified.
Library of CongressBuffalo, New York. 1909.
Library of CongressA vintage panorama of Los Angeles, California. 1909.
Library of CongressLos Angeles Harbor. 1919.
Library of CongressLos Angeles business district from Richfield Tower. 1930.
Library of CongressSan Francisco burning amid the infamous 1906 earthquake.
Library of CongressSan Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.
LIbrary of CongressAnother view of San Francisco after the earthquake. 1906.
Library of CongressSan Francisco as seen from an airship. 1908.
Library of CongressSan Francisco three years after the 1906 earthquake.
Library of CongressOakland, California, from 1,000 feet up in the air. 1909.
Library of CongressOil fields in Long Beach, California. 1923.
Library of CongressPasadena, California circa 1910.
Library of CongressSanta Barbara, California. 1909.
Library of CongressSan Jose, California. 1909.
Library of CongressFresno, California. 1910.
Library of CongressDallas, Texas. 1908.
Library of CongressHouston, Texas. 1912.
Library of CongressMain Street in Perry, Iowa. 1907.
Library of CongressJacksonville, Florida. 1913.
Library of CongressMiami, Florida. 1912.
Library of CongressMiami Beach. 1930.
Library of CongressTampa, Florida. 1913.
Library of CongressStreet scene in St. Petersburg, Florida. 1913.
Library of CongressBoston, Massachusetts, as seen from Boston Common. 1903.
Library of CongressThe Boston waterfront. 1910.
Library of CongressIowa City, Iowa. 1907.
Library of CongressMontgomery, Alabama. 1916.
Library of CongressMobile, Alabama. 1909.
Library of CongressBirmingham, Alabama. 1916.
Library of CongressAnchorage, Alaska. 1916.
Library of CongressPhoenix, Arizona. 1908.
Library of CongressTucson, Arizona. 1909.
Library of CongressPanorama of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1913.
Library of CongressPittsburgh, Pennsylvania skyline. 1907.
Library of CongressPanorama of Pittsburgh. 1909.
Library of CongressSpokane, Washington. 1903.
Library of CongressDetroit, Michigan. 1905.
Library of CongressMinneapolis, Minnesota. 1911.
Library of CongressOmaha, Nebraska. 1911.
Library of CongressCleveland, Ohio. 1909.
Library of CongressReno, Nevada. 1908.
Library of CongressBird’s eye view of Portland, Oregon. 1908.
Library of CongressLittle Rock, Arkansas. 1916.
Library of CongressBoulder, Colorado. 1908.
After looking through these panoramic photos of the United States at the turn of the 20th century, look through these stunning colorized photos of America’s Gilded Age. Then, enjoy these photos from the uniquely pivotal decade that was the 1960s.
