Boise

9780738559896

$24.99

On a high-desert plateau of the Snake River Plain in southwestern Idaho, Boise, the "City of Trees," began as an encampment on the Oregon Trail along the Boise River. Natives were soon after displaced, and by 1864, a town site was platted north of the river, abutting the garrison at Fort Boise. Early settlers found livelihoods as merchants, supplying miners in the Boise Basin, where gold was discovered in 1862. Boiseans experienced difficulty accepting a municipal government and had to wrest territorial status from Lewiston in northern Idaho. Through decades of irrigation and commerce, they grappled with isolation and a scarcity of goods and amenities, which produced a remarkably resilient and vibrant population. From the railroad in 1880s to statehood in 1890, the interurban, and the airplane, rocket, and computer chip-making eras, Boise continues to grow and thrive.

Santa Rosa

9780738528854

$24.99

The Santa Rosa Valley, once carpeted in wild oats and littered with acorns from ancient oaks, was home to Pomo and Miwok Indians for thousands of years. The cattle ranches and farms that displaced them in the mid-1800s had already spawned a thriving commercial town named Santa Rosa, the county seat, when the railroad arrived in 1870. That railroad, and the commerce it brought, secured the city's role as the legal and financial nexus of Sonoma County and its most populous city. When many of the downtown buildings collapsed in the famous 1906 earthquake, the community built itself back into a picture-perfect all-American city, the setting for such films as Hitchcock's Shadow of Doubt and Disney's Pollyanna. Another devastating quake in 1969 damaged many structures, but once again that destruction prompted redevelopment and renewed growth for Santa Rosa in the 21st century.

Lawrence County

9781467108355

$23.99

Lawrence County was founded on February 6, 1818, the year before Alabama became a state, from lands ceded by the Cherokee and Chickasaw. It is a rural county bordered to the north by the Tennessee River and to the south by the waterfall-rich Bankhead National Forest and filled with small vibrant communities. Moulton, the county seat, features a picturesque square. Courtland, an antebellum town, was once a bustling railroad port. Featured topics include Southern architecture, leaving for war, the railroad boom, cotton agriculture, and industry. Notable individuals highlighted include Jesse Owens, Gen. Joseph Wheeler, and Annie Wheeler.

Baltimore County

9780738567952

$24.99

In its beginnings, Baltimore County was covered with dense ancient forests of deciduous trees and so little undergrowth that it was said a man could gallop horses within them.

Today horses gallop over bucolic pastures of renowned Thoroughbred farms amidst quaint historic towns seen dotting the rolling landscape. Named for the Lords Baltimore, Baltimore County was originally an expansive area extending well beyond today's boundaries. Founded in 1659, the county has evolved from tobacco farming to diverse industries ranging from steel manufacturing to picturesque vineyards. Both then and now, nearby Baltimore Harbor on the Chesapeake Bay provides lucrative opportunities for merchants to trade their crops and commodities. The county offers endless recreational pursuits on over 175 miles of shoreline. Baltimore County is proud to claim among its residents the noted neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson; baseball's all-time iron man, Cal Ripken; and famous author Tom Clancy.

Vanishing Seattle

9780738548692

$24.99

Though Seattle is still a young city, growing and changing, much of its short past is already lost-but not forgotten. Generations of Seattleites have fond memories of restaurants, local television shows, stores, and other landmarks that evoke a less sophisticated, more informal city. This new book explores Seattle at a time when timber and fish were more lucrative than airplanes and computers, when the city was a place of kitschy architecture and homespun humor and was full of boundless hope for a brighter future. These rare and vintage images hearken back to the marvels of the 1962 World's Fair, shopping trips to Frederick & Nelson and I. Magnin, dinners at Rosellini's, dancing at the Trianon Ballroom, traveling on the ferry Kalakala, rooting for baseball's Rainiers, and local personalities including Stan Boreson, J. P. Patches, and Wunda Wunda.

Twin Falls

9780738580272

$24.99

Images of America: Twin Falls tells the story of the transformation of a sagebrush plain into productive farmland at the beginning of the 20th century. Engineers and investors found a way to capture the water of the Snake River for extensive irrigation and completed Milner Dam and the related canal system in 1905. The success of the Twin Falls South Side Irrigation Tract was associated with other reclamation projects in the region, resulting in the permanent settlement of south-central Idaho. New residents built modern schools, fine homes, and imposing business blocks. Prosperous farms and orchards dotted the landscape. Twin Falls became a wholesale center for storing, processing, and shipping agricultural commodities in the United States and abroad.

Cedar City

9780738595009

$24.99

Cedar City was first settled on November 11, 1851, with the arrival of a group of 35 men to establish an ironworks. Beginning with the demise of the ironworks in 1858, the town's economy became agrarian in nature, though iron mining continued strongly through World War II and into the 1980s. The coming of the railroad to Cedar City in 1923 exposed Utah's national parks to the world of tourism, and Cedar City was touted as the "Gateway to the Parks." The railroad also provided an outlet for the products of the iron mines. The Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Festival City USA designation, and the Utah Summer Games propelled Cedar City into a new era.

Around Gunnison and Crested Butte

9780738548289

$24.99

The Western Slope towns of Gunnison and Crested Butte are defined by their placement in the Colorado Rockies. Both are located in alpine valleys surrounded by 14,000-foot-high peaks with sparkling mountain-fed streams, and both dominate the Gunnison country, a unique wilderness covering over 4,000 square miles. Beginning over 400 years ago, Native Americans, fur traders, explorers, miners, railroaders, and cattlemen all made a place for themselves in the area. Today Gunnison, Crested Butte, and the Gunnison country remain isolated and tranquil. Recreation, tourism, and cattle ranching now reign supreme as Gunnison and Crested Butte attempt to preserve their distinctly Western heritage.

Cover image for Around Gunnison and Crested Butte, isbn: 9780738548289

Hartford

9780738535371

$24.99

The history of Hartford is so dense and interesting, one book would have never been enough to cover it all!

Wilson H. Faude's first photographic history of Hartford was a wonderful collection of images dating from the 1850s to the 1960s. Now, he brings us a second volume of images from our past. Drawn from hitherto unpublished sources, these photographs again lead us on a fascinating and fun journey down memory lane, back to the days when Frank's was on Asylum, Sage-Allen's lit up the holiday sky, and events such as the Mile of Dimes and people like Dan the Bare Foot Man were an integral part of the city. This comprehensive and accessible history preserves the past and also benefits the future, for all royalties will be donated to the ongoing preservation of the Old State House and to the Hartford Collection of the Hartford Public Library.

Chicago's Historic Irish Pubs

9780738583914

$24.99

From dancing at Hanley's House of Happiness to raising pints at Kelly's Pub on St. Patrick's Day, the history of the Irish community in Chicago is told through stories of its gathering places. Families are drawn to the pub after Sunday church, in the midst of sporting events, following funerals, and during weddings. In good times and bad, the pub has been a source of comfort, instruction, and joy--a constant in a changing world. Based on interviews with tavern owners, musicians, bartenders, and scholars, Chicago's Historic Irish Pubs explores the way the Irish pub defines its block, its neighborhood, and its city.

Rhode Island Shipwrecks

9781467125062

$24.99

Rhode Island, the Ocean State, has more shipwrecks per square mile than any other state. The south coast and Block Island are the resting places of many shipwrecks, with many more located in Narragansett Bay. The record of shipwrecks in Rhode Island begins immediately after the arrival of Europeans in the early 17th century with the grounding of a Dutch trading vessel, and thousands more vessels came to grief in its waters in the following centuries, through bad weather, human error, equipment failure, and military action. Some of these shipwrecks were epic disasters, with many fatalities and the total loss of the vessel; others were relatively minor misfortunes in which the ships were salvageable. Many shipwrecks from the 19th century on into the 20th were captured in the dramatic images gathered here. These pictures show the variety of vessels that travelled Rhode Island's waters back when the ocean was the primary transportation corridor and the many ways in which they met misfortune.

Erath County

9781467108454

$23.99

Carved from central Comancheria, Erath (EE-rath) County was created by stock raisers and settlers with little to lose but hopes and dreams. Bisected by Grand Prairie and Western Cross Timbers, this is where East Texas ends and West Texas begins. The Bosque and Paluxy Rivers welcomed ranchers, farmers, millers, and ginners. Rustlers, deserters, train robbers, vigilantes, lawmen, and Texas Rangers soon followed. Faith, education, life, and death cultivated villages with churches, schools, stores, and cemeteries in walking distance. Bridges, roads, and railways meant the life or death of a township. This volume commemorates the people, places, and events of lost communities that made the "Cowboy Capital of the World'? what it is today.

Tumwater

9780738581279

$24.99

The phrase "It's the water," adopted by Tumwater's own Olympia Brewing Company, could have been coined for the town itself. In 1845, the first American settlers on Puget Sound founded a village at the falls of the Deschutes River, drawn by the river's potential for powering mills and factories. They christened the place New Market, though the town soon changed its name to Tumwater, a phrase meaning "noisy water" in the language used between settlers and Indians. Though the age of water power lasted only a few more decades, Tumwater later struck gold with a different sort of water: pure artesian springs that were perfect for brewing beer. The Olympia Brewing Company, built by German brewmaster Leopold Schmidt, produced its first beer in 1896. For more than a century, Schmidt's brewery dominated the little town at the falls. In spite of tremendous changes during the past few decades, modern Tumwater still takes pride in its Northwest pioneer heritage and its beer-brewing past.

Swannanoa

9780738599403

$24.99

The name Swannanoa derives from a Cherokee word meaning "beautiful river." The beauty and abundance created by the river and surrounding mountains drew Native Americans for hunting. In the 19th century, the Davidson and Alexander families developed Swannanoa's infrastructure, establishing farmsteads, gristmills, lumber mills, and general stores. Families soon flocked to the area, traveling west from the coast and piedmont to escape the sweltering summer heat. The arrival of the railroad in 1879 funneled tourists and permanent residents into the town. One of these, E.W. Grove, who built the well-known Grove Park Inn in nearby Asheville, also designed America's first planned community, Grovemont-on-Swannanoa. Industry came as well; the Beacon Blanket Manufacturing Company was built in 1925. The mill was the center of community in Swannanoa, providing employee housing and many other amenities as well as sponsoring sports teams, music gatherings, and holiday celebrations for over 75 years. Swannanoa showcases the rich history of this North Carolina mountain town; it truly is the "land of the sky."

Southern Arizona Cemeteries

9781467131230

$24.99

In a quest to understand an area as diverse as Arizona, there can be no better way than to take a journey to the grave sites of its pioneers and observe the style whereby they made their journey from this world. The sites may be as simple as a cross or a shrine by the side of a road or as large as Tucson's Evergreen Cemetery, which has provided a final resting place to more than 40,000 interments. In this book, one will find the graves of governors, sheriffs, gunfighters, business owners, soldiers, schoolteachers, sports figures, madams, miners, and many others from all walks of life. Where possible, an image of the deceased and a brief bio has been included. The epitaphs, symbols, and expressions of grief on the graves provide an insight into the loss felt by family and friends. The graves are brief glimpses into Arizona's pioneer past.

East Amwell

9780738573212

$24.99

Bordered by the Sourland Mountains, East Amwell's fertile valley farmlands have been attracting settlers since 1720. The village of Ringoes, Hunterdon County's oldest known settlement, was founded at the intersection of two Native American trails that became major crossroads: the Trenton-Easton Turnpike and the Old York Road from Philadelphia to New York. Early residents included Johann Peter Rockefeller, ancestor of John D. Rockefeller, and John Ringo, rumored to have buried treasure in town. During the Revolutionary War, the Sons of Liberty gathered at Ringoes Tavern, the Marquis de Lafayette recuperated nearby at Landis House, and Capt. John Schenck led an ambush on British dragoons near his Amwell home. Houses, mills, taverns, and general stores sprung up in Ringoes and smaller hamlets, as first the stagecoach and then the railroad brought prosperity and industry to this rural township. In 1932, what journalist H. L. Mencken called "the biggest story since the Resurrection" unfolded in East Amwell when Charles Lindbergh's son was kidnapped from his estate.

The New York City Triangle Factory Fire

9780738574035

$24.99

On March 25, 1911, flames rapidly consumed everything within the Triangle Waist Company factory, killing 146 workers. Until September 11, 2001, the Triangle fire was the deadliest workplace disaster in New York City history.

The victims, mostly young Jewish and Italian immigrant women, died needlessly due to unsafe working conditions, such as locked or blocked doors, narrow stairways, faulty fire escapes, and a lack of sprinklers. Mass grief and outrage spread from New York's Lower East Side across the country. Garment union membership swelled, and New York politics shifted dramatically toward reform, paving the way for the New Deal and, ultimately, the workplace standards expected today. Through historic images, The New York City Triangle Factory Fire honors the victims' sacrifice and serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for the dignity of all working people.

A Brief History of Phoenix

9781467118446

$21.99

Though the new metropolis is one of America's largest, many are unaware of Phoenix's rich and compelling history. Built on land once occupied by the most advanced pre-Columbian irrigation society, Phoenix overcame its hostile desert surroundings to become a thriving agricultural center. After World War II, its population exploded with the mid-century mass migration to the Sun Belt. In times of rapid expansion or decline, Phoenicians proved themselves to be adaptable and optimistic. Phoenix's past is an engaging and surprising story of audacity, vision, greed and a never-ending fight to secure its future. Chronicling the challenges of growth and change, fourth-generation Arizonan Jon Talton tells the story of the city that remains one of American civilization's great accomplishments.

Oysterville

9780738580760

$24.99

For generations, Chinook Indians camped in the area that is now Oysterville, gathering oysters from the shallow waters of Shoalwater Bay. When tribal elder "Old Klickeas" introduced two young adventurers, Robert Hamilton Espy and Isaac Alonzo Clark, to the oyster treasure, the pioneer boom years began. Oysters were marketed in gold-rich, oyster-hungry San Francisco, where a plateful sold for $50. Within months, there were several hundred settlers, and in 1855, Oysterville was chosen as the seat of Pacific County, Washington Territory. Oysterville had many county firsts: a school, a college, a newspaper, a post office, and a church--but never a bank. When schooners arrived to pick up their oyster cargoes, oystermen were paid in gold coin that then might be buried or stashed under floorboards for safekeeping. Often there was more gold in Oysterville than in any town on the West Coast except San Francisco. Today the peaceful vistas along the lanes and shoreline of the village belie its tumultuous history. Oysterville was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Downtown Knoxville

9781467107723

$23.99

Founded on a bluff overlooking the Tennessee River in 1791, Knoxville was a frontier town as well as the birthplace and first capital of Tennessee. From the postcolonial years through the Civil War and on to Knoxville's emergence as an industrial, dynamic, and thoroughly American city, downtown was where everything happened--the setting of the city's most memorable stories and legends. Spanning First and Second Creeks and connecting the river to the railroad, downtown is where Knoxvillians have built their most defining churches, opera houses, movie theaters, and hotels. Here, traditions, holidays, and the endings of wars have been celebrated; suffrage leaders exhorted politicians to pass a national amendment; conservationists planned a national park; idealistic engineers and architects of a New Deal program reimagined a multistate valley; and musicians convened to record and broadcast new forms of folk music that would be called "country." Downtown is where bizarre gunfights drew national attention and a notorious outlaw escaped from jail and rode the sheriff's horse to freedom across the Gay Street Bridge.

Shaver, Huntington, and Hume Lakes

9781467131438

$24.99

The Sierra Nevada of Fresno County is rich in natural resources. Logging operations of the 19th century built dams and millponds, such as Hume Lake, sawmills, railroads, and two of the longest flumes in the world. In the 20th century, the Southern California Edison Company began the massive Big Creek Hydroelectric Project. It resulted in the creation of several lakes, including Shaver and Huntington, and a series of powerhouses for hydroelectric power. These lakes provided new venues for fishing and boating. Included here are epic stories told with historical postcards of logging, electricity, and leisure in the Central Sierra Nevada within Fresno County.

Pittsburgh Drinks

9781467137782

$21.99

Pittsburgh's drinking culture is a story of its people: vibrant, hardworking and innovative. During Prohibition, the Hill District became a center of jazz, speakeasies and creative cocktails.

In the following decades, a group of Cuban bartenders brought the nightlife of Havana to a robust café culture along Diamond Street. Disco clubs gripped the city in the 1970s, and a music-centered nightlife began to grow in Oakland with such clubs as the Electric Banana. Today, pioneering mixologists are forging a new and exciting bar revival in the South Side and throughout the city. Pull up a stool and join Cody McDevitt and Sean Enright as they trace the history of Steel City drinking, along with a host of delicious cocktail recipes.

Indio

9780738556185

$24.99

Located halfway between Los Angeles and Yuma, Arizona, Indio came into being as a railroad town in 1876 when the Southern Pacific Railroad completed this last link in its southern transcontinental route. Settling this arid land took ingenuity and courage, and Indio's early residents had both. In the 1930s, Indio became a mining town when 92 miles of tunnel were dug through its eastern mountains for the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the largest construction project in the United States during the Depression. World War II brought Gen. George Patton's Desert Tank Corps to train nearby and crowd into Indio for rest and relaxation. The completion of the Coachella Branch of the All-American Canal brought Colorado River water to the desert in the late 1940s, and a land boom ensued. Today Indio's reputation as the "Date Capital of the United States" and "City of Festivals" is long held and well deserved.

Akron

9780738532813

$24.99

While tire magnates like Harvey Firestone and John Seiberling were propelling Akron's rubber industry to the top, its African-American citizens were busy building and fortifying the "Rubber Capital of the World," supplying a tenacious workforce and cultivating a rich cultural and social environment. Great African Americans such as Rita Dove, Howard Hewitt, and James Ingram were born out of Akron and inspired all of America. Akron reveals the substantial contributions made to the community by African Americans through vintage images and supporting history, illuminating the churches, schools, labor forces, social organizations, athletics, and nightlife that played such an important role in making Akron the great city it is today.

The South Bay

9780738569055

$24.99

Los Angeles County's South Bay is referenced by the lower arc of Santa Monica Bay and includes the communities between El Segundo on the north and Palos Verdes Peninsula on the south, eastward to the Long Beach border. Roughly defined over the years as the coverage area of the Daily Breeze newspaper, as well as the confines of the South Bay Council of Governments, the South Bay always has been much more than the beautiful coastlines of Manhattan, Hermosa, and Redondo Beaches, as seen in these vintage postcards. It was, as it is today, also the residential and workaday worlds of Torrance, Hawthorne, Lawndale, Inglewood, Gardena, Lomita, Carson, and the Los Angeles Harbor communities.

Bedford and Its Neighbors

9780738544557

$24.99

Bedford can trace its roots as far back as 5800 BC, as evidence of early Native American civilizations has been found. Once described as a "prehistoric turnpike," Bedford was known for Native American migrations. Many tribes passed through and even settled in the area, including the Monongahela tribe who lived here in AD 1300. Bedford continued to play an important role in not only Pennsylvania but also American history during the 18th century. The area saw the movement of troops and the construction of Fort Bedford, which played an integral role in the French and Indian War. Also in town is the building that served as a temporary command post for George Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bedford Springs Hotel was known as the summer White House and played host to countless world dignitaries and many U.S. presidents. With more than 200 photographs, Bedford and Its Neighbors extols the historical relevance of this proud Pennsylvania community.

Brooklyn Heights

9781626199545

$29.99

Settled in the 1600s, Brooklyn Heights is one of New York's most historic neighborhoods.

Its strategic location overlooking the harbor proved instrumental during the Revolutionary War's Battle of Brooklyn. In the 1830s, steam ferries transformed it into America's first suburb, where abolitionism flourished and one of the largest Civil War Sanitary Fairs was held. Throughout the nineteenth century, wealthy philanthropists and entrepreneurs built high-styled Gothic Revival and Italianate homes and founded many landmark Brooklyn institutions. Though the neighborhood declined with the new century, it became a target of Robert Moses's urban renewal projects in the 1930s. Its designation as the city's first historic district saved Brooklyn Heights, and it has since blossomed into one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods.

Norton

9780738502649

$24.99

Located in southeastern Massachusetts, the college town
of Norton has changed considerably since its inception
in 1711. What first began as a small agricultural community
soon turned into a town of small industries and businesses,
and eventually into what it is now--a comfortable bedroom
town with a history as interesting as it is long.
Norton chronicles the changes that have taken place
over the years. Readers can learn about the unique histories
of Norton Center, Barrowsville, Chartley, East Norton,
Meadowbrook, and Winnecunnet--the charming villages
that make up Norton. Winnecunnet Pond has been a center
of recreational activities for years, and is said to have been
a fishing and hunting spot for King Phillip. Early images
of Wheaton College document the growth of what would
become the largest landowner in town, as well as a significant
influence in its history. One also learns in this volume about
early industry, religion, and social life in Norton, but most
importantly, the people--immigrants and native-born who
made Norton grow and thrive into a community. Norton has
become a town with a rich history and a strong sense of both
its past and its future.

Clintonville and Beechwold

9780738561462

$24.99

Clintonville, a Columbus neighborhood situated four miles north of the Ohio Statehouse, began as a sleepy crossroads halfway between Columbus and Worthington. Beechwold, three more miles north, was a farm, then a zoo. Today they are bedroom communities but no longer sleepy. The beauty of their grassy knolls, springs, river, and wooded ravines inspired the creation of one of Ohio's best amusement parks, which in turn spurred housing and businesses. The City of Columbus marched right alongside this progress, annexing residential areas almost as soon as they were developed. This new compilation tells, through images and words, the story of Clintonville and Beechwold as they evolved from sleepy hamlets to the communities they are today.

Wheeling

9780738515878

$24.99

The playground of figures like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Buffalo Bill, Wheelingis filled with memorable snapshots documenting famous (and infamous) moments in American history.

When most people think of Wheeling they remember Independence Hall and the birth of West Virginia, but Wheeling's history goes back even further to the frontier legends of Lewis Wetzel and Maj. Samuel McColloch. Including photographs of both Wetzel's cave, Major McColloch's smokehouse, and a multitude of historic photographs Images of America: Wheelingdepicts the way life used to be. Famous visitors like Babe Ruth, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh, President John F. Kennedy, actress Sarah Bernhardt, and Buffalo Bill are featured.

Within these pages memorable snapshots document some famous moments in the history of the 20th century, such as when President Eisenhower decided to keep Senator Nixon on the ticket at the Ohio County Public Airport and Sen. Joseph McCarthy's famous speech about Communists in the State Department at Wheeling's McLure Hotel. However, the real stars of this book are Wheeling's own buildings, industries, and people, from machine workers on the job to millionaires at play. A chapter devoted to the African-American experience in Wheeling includes Center Market's slave auction block as well as an image of the great jazz saxophonist Leon ""Chu"" Berry. This collection highlights some of the horrific natural disasters that occurred at the turn of the century as well as Wheeling's Victorian architectural treasures, which were erected during the same era.

Concord

9780738569130

$24.99

Located in central Contra Costa County in the shadow of Mount Diablo, the land that includes Concord was originally a Mexican land grant given to Don Salvio Pacheco in 1834. The original Mexican land grant families of Concord were quickly supplanted by American settlers during the Gold Rush in the 1840s and 1850s. The original Spanish name for the town, Todos Santos, was changed to Concord by the American settlers and their local newspaper, against the wishes of the Pacheco family. The name stuck, and the town became Concord in 1869. Now a town of over 120,000 people, Concord's development is a true American story of Native Americans, Spanish explorers, Mexican Californios, and settlers from across the country and around the world.

Cover image for Concord, isbn: 9780738569130

Ranger

9780738584591

$24.99

Ranger began in the 1870s near a Texas Ranger camp in northeastern Eastland County. It remained a farming community of about 700 people until October 17, 1917, when an oil well on the McCleskey farm, south of town, ushered in one of the best-known oil discoveries. Within months, Ranger's population had surged to approximately 30,000, including investors, speculators, wildcatters, oil field workers, curious onlookers, and the usual criminal element attracted to oil boomtowns. Crime became so rampant that the Texas Rangers eventually were called in to intercede. Oil production peaked in 1919 before tapering off. Images of America: Ranger covers a period of about 75 years from the town's beginnings to 1950.

Fort Worth Stockyards

9780738558608

$23.99

As early as 1867, Fort Worth held promise as an ideal stockyards. Making their way to northern markets, cattle passed through the city on what became the Chisholm Trail. By 1876, local businessmen urged railroad development, and the establishment of local packing facilities and animal pens followed in the 1880s. The first stockyards opened in 1889. It was not until the nation's two largest meatpacking giants, Armour and Swift, bought into the local market in 1902, however, that the stockyards began to thrive. Fort Worth became the largest stockyards in the Southwest and ranked consistently from third to fourth nationwide. Most major stockyards have now closed, including Fort Worth in 1992. Of these, only Fort Worth has successfully turned its former livestock market into a tourist site, attracting nearly a million visitors annually.

The Great Ohio River Flood of 1937

9780738568584

$24.99

Images of America: The Great Ohio River Flood of 1937 brings together 200 vintage images that offer readers a look at one of the darkest chapters in the region's history.

From the time settlers first pushed into the Ohio Valley, floods were an accepted fact of life. After each flood, people shoveled the mud from their doors and set about rebuilding their towns. In 1884, the Ohio River washed away 2,000 homes. In 1913, an even worse flood swept down the river. People labeled it the ""granddaddy"" of all floods. Little did they know there was worse yet to come. In 1937, raging flood waters inundated thousands of houses, businesses, factories, and farms in a half dozen states, drove one million people from their homes, claimed nearly 400 lives, and recorded $500 million in damages. Adding to the misery was the fact that the disaster came during the depths of the Depression, when many families were already struggling.

Florida's Space Coast

9780738566245

$24.99

Florida's Space Coast and its explosion into the 20th century thrust these beach towns into the modern age and paved the way for America's space exploration.

Florida's Space Coast is an area that got its name from one of the most exciting times in United States history. Settlers were living in Brevard County as far back as the 1800s, and even after World War II, it was still a quiet place to live. Cities and beach towns along 74 miles of Atlantic Ocean coastline were thrust into the modern age in the early 1950s, when rockets began lighting up the skies above them. The space race had begun, the nation would set a path to put men on the moon, and Florida would become the backdrop for this thrilling chapter of American history. The area's population surged with over 200,000 new residents, and things would never be the same. It was a time when people risked their lives for space exploration, and a community came together to make it happen.