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Join author Joe Earle as he recounts the history of Decatur, Georgia's rich and storied past using 200 vintage images.

Decatur proudly proclaims itself a city of ""homes, schools, and places of worship."" While that motto might seem to describe any number of small towns, the words accurately capture the essence of Decatur, a place of fine and humble homes, well-regarded schools, and large, active churches. Founded by the Georgia legislature in 1823 to be the county seat of DeKalb County, Decatur took its name from Commodore Stephen Decatur, a U.S. naval hero of the early 1800s. In the years since, Decatur has grown into a busy suburb of neighboring Atlanta, produced Agnes Scott College, and attracted both the Scottish Rite Children's Hospital and Columbia Theological Seminary. Decatur has been home to fascinating Georgians, including Civil War memoirist Mary Gay and writer Rebecca Latimer Felton, the first woman to be seated as a U.S. senator (if only for a day).

In this photographic history, author Richard A. Straw and the Athens County Historical Society document the long and illustrious history of this home to Ohio State University.

In the late 1700s, a group of men, largely from Massachusetts, came into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and settled a village in southeastern Ohio alongside the Hocking River. Calling it Athens to honor their belief in the primacy of education and culture in one's life, they set in motion a history that continues to inform and enliven life within this community today. Ohio University, the first public institution of higher learning in the Northwest Territory, was founded here in 1804. Athens has served as a business, service, cultural, and educational meeting place for over 200 years. As a result, Athens is a culturally diverse community of professors, plumbers, lawyers, craftsmen, restaurateurs, students, musicians, artists, and business owners, and it is heir to a historic past. This collection of fascinating photographs of people, places, homes, businesses, churches, and important events comes from the vast archives of the Athens County Historical Society and Museum. The images open the past and provide an informative glimpse into an earlier period of life in this unique community.

Through vintage postcards and photos, a diverse group of people and places are shown as they actually appeared-sportsmen and their "catches;" bathers whose attire evolved from bloomers and formal dress to one-piece bathing suits; the early "swing" and rickety wooden bridges; rustic frame hotels giving way to modern motels; the "downtown" areas of Indian Rocks Beach, Pass-a-Grille, Madeira Beach, and Clearwater Beach; plus casinos, bathhouses, waterslides, a Grand Hotel, and much more.

Follow the history of New York's Long Beach from abandoned barrier island to bustling City By the Sea.

In 1906, Sen. William H. Reynolds purchased an abandoned barrier island along the south shore of Long Island and vowed to turn it into a great city. What is now Long Beach, the "City by the Sea," soon drew visitors who came for its summer resorts, boardwalk, dance pavilions, casino, and luxury hotels. Two world wars, Prohibition, and easy railroad access turned summer residences into year-long homes for thousands eager to live by the seaside and raise families in what has been known as "America's Healthiest City." The images of Long Beach reflect the diversity of the city's architecture, culture, religions, and unique neighborhoods. Photographs show the storied inhabitants and bungalows of the West End, water-lined homes of the canals, the 2.1-mile boardwalk, and long white sand beach.

Charlotte and the Carolina Piedmont has an extensive and legendary tradition of automobile racing. Soon after 1904, when the first car was registered in Charlotte, autos became a part of everyday life.

Car racing was just around the bend: an open-road race was run through Charlotte as early as 1908. Many drivers themselves have hailed from the area, and some are said to have received early training by running moonshine and outrunning authorities. Probably the best-known aspect of Carolina racing is the Queen City's involvement since 1949 with NASCAR, which hosts many of its big names and operations. Auto Racing in Charlotte and the Carolina Piedmont explores the story behind the various forms of the sport, the kinds of people who have raced, and the reasons why they have done so. Historic photographs-many never before published-trace the history of NASCAR and look beyond the professional aspect to include the dragracers, wannabees, kids, and just plain amateurs participating in this cultural phenomenon. The story includes the first formal oval track, constructed entirely of wooden planks and opened in 1925. Other famous Charlotte locations, including professional dirt tracks, drag strips, and even a paved track dedicated to Soap Box Derby, are also revisited. Images of fans, mechanics, and hangers-on round out this singular journey of racing in the Carolinas.

Orlando amounted to little more than scattered log cabins in the pine forest when Orange County established it as the county seat in 1857.

One of the earliest buildings was a log hotel, indicating Orlando's future as a tourist destination. After its incorporation in 1875, wood-frame structures replaced the log cabins, and prosperous citizens built large houses around the developing government and business center. By 1900, as Orlando recovered from the economic disaster of the Great Freeze of 1894 and 1895, brick construction replaced wood frame as once pretentious houses close to the central city were torn down to make way for modern business blocks. As residences moved to less congested neighborhoods, schools and churches followed. From its beginning, people arrived in Orlando to prosper and build. Those men and their buildings are gone, but the history of the city is richer because of their presence. Orlando's story can be traced through the continuing cycle of constructing, demolishing, and rebuilding anew.

From North American Phalanx and Scobeyville to the now suburbanized Colts Neck, this visual history documents the fascinating history of this Monmouth County township.

Colts Neck, the Monmouth County township known by that name only since 1962, has witnessed a rapid pace of change in its recent past. The once-rural community has been adapting to suburbanization but longtime residents yearn to preserve memories of the municipality's heritage, and in particular, recollections of two well-known communities. Colts Neck's North American Phalanx was one of America's best-known, nineteenth-century cooperative communities, and as such has garnered the interest of philosophers and social scientists. In a completely different historical vein, Colts Neck embraces Scobeyville, widely known as the home of Laird's. Synonymous with New Jersey distilling, Laird's has produced the Apple Jack beverage for many years.

Before Honolulu became one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, there was a small Hawai'ian settlement at the edge of a natural harbor known as Kou.

Named Kou for the sheltering, orange-blossomed trees, the area was ideal for launching canoes for fishing and cultivating fields adjacent to the Nuuanu Stream. In 1845, King Kamehameha III moved the permanent capital of the Hawai'ian Kingdom from Lahaina to O'ahu, and the Honolulu we know today started to take shape. The name Honolulu means "protected harbor'? and that is what the tropic paradise must have felt like as the city began to grow in commerce and resources. Americans began to flock in from the mainland as tourists, businessmen, and missionaries, and immigrants from around the world traveled to this small island to begin a new life. Successive waves of immigrants came to this port town, bringing with them new religions, architecture, education, foods, and social mores. The small confines of this town encouraged cross-pollination of peoples and ideas that fostered the unique neighborhoods that give Honolulu its character.

Discover the rich history of Moravians in North Carolina through the lens of over 200 vintage images.

Members of the Moravian Church who settled in North Carolina were meticulous record keepers, documenting almost every aspect of their day-to-day lives. A significant part of those records is preserved in the form of photographs. Moravian photographers-both professional and amateur-created an enduring legacy by capturing their society and surroundings in faithful detail. Their photographs, which record the towns of Bethabara, Bethania, Salem, Friedberg, Hope, and Friedland, as well as other communities throughout the state, provide a rare glimpse into the historic world of Moravian life in North Carolina.

Authors Bill Stout and Jean Domico delve into the hidden history, growth and development of Millvale, laid out with historic images throughout the centuries.

Located three miles up the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh, Millvale was built along the valley formed by the creek called Girty's Run. Named after the iron mill of Graff, Bennett & Co., the ""mill in the valley,"" Millvale attracted hardworking German, Irish, and Slavic immigrants. Many of Millvale's immigrants created their own small businesses and social organizations, such as the Baeuerlein Brewing Company, as shown on the cover, and St. Anthony's Music and Benevolence Society. They built schools and churches, including St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church, internationally famous for its Maxo Vanka murals. Prussian brothers Anton and Andrew Kloman established a small forge making uniquely superior railroad axles. Needing capital to expand, the brothers turned to Miller, Phipps, and Carnegie as partners. Kloman and Company became the birthplace of Pittsburgh's steel industry. Never annexed by Pittsburgh, Millvale governs independently, even owning and operating its own water and electric plants.

See the people and places that helped shape Boca Raton, Florida, into the proud city that it is today.

Boca Raton has long served as a beautiful home to a host of interesting and talented people, from the Tekesta Indians and the buccaneers who sought refuge in the calm waters of its natural inland harbor, to today's proud residents. From a hardscrabble agricultural outpost along Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast line, the city is today one of America's great resort destinations and a prime address for a growing number of people from all over the world who want to live ""the good life."" Personalities including first settler Thomas Moore Rickards, society architect Addison Mizner, and inventor Domina Jalbert have all helped define Boca Raton, adding to the brick-and-mortar landmarks, attractions, and natural features that shape its landscape.

One of the phrases that has been used to describe Chicago's Southeast Side is ""smokestacks and steeples."" Today, the people of South Chicago, South Deering, the East Side, and Hegewisch look to the future.

The community initially developed because of the steel industry, but it has been affected by the decline of the American steel industry in recent years. The community is, in many respects, at a crossroads. Will economic redevelopment occur, and if it does, at what price? Will the ecology and environment, damaged by years of abuse and neglect, be restored and protected?This second book about the region tells the story of this interesting and vibrant Chicago community from a chronological approach. It looks at important themes of American history from the perspective of this urban, working-class community. Industrialization, urbanization, unionization, immigration, and Americanization were themes that played out on the Southeast Side of Chicago. It examines how the community dealt with problems like depression, wars, pollution, and the decline of heavy industry-especially the steel industry.