Arcadia Bestsellers

Take a fascinating journey through the history of Allentown, Pennsylvania with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

Allentown, the Queen City of the Lehigh Valley, is the youngest but largest of the three cities in the valley. Founded in 1762 by William Allen, it was little more than a crossroads and small market town along the Lehigh Riveruntil it became the county seat in 1812. Heavy industries based on iron developed in the mid-eighteenth century along the Lehigh Riverand, by the 1860s, Allentown had become the largest community in the Lehigh Valley. In 1867, Allentown became a city.

In Allentown, readers nostalgic for times past will find photographs showing the places they remember from years ago, the Pennsylvania Power & Lighttower, and the effects of the devastating floods on the Lehigh River. Equally, newcomers who have heard about the great department stores of Hamilton Street, the trolley systems, Central Park, the breweries, and the iron and silk industries will treasure the images in this volume. Many places that still exist are shown in Allentown as they appeared in their earlier days.

Local historian and author Ann Bartholomew has compiled a riveting photographic record of the vibrant city of Allentown. Perusing these pages will evoke memories and will provide opportunities for parents and grandparents to introduce a younger generation to the city as it was in their youth.

See how the Pennsylvania Turnpike proved the doubters wrong and came to be known as the World's Greatest Highway.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is one of the best-known highways in the United States. Most Pennsylvania Turnpike travelers are unaware that its construction was inspired by the route of the never-completed South Pennsylvania Railroad. In the 1930s, men of great vision conceived, planned, and built the nation's first long-distance superhighway using the abandoned railroad's partially finished tunnels as its foundation.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike draws from the extensive photograph collection in the Pennsylvania State Archives. Many were taken by photographers hired by both the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and its contractors, and most have never been published previously. Originally predicted to be a financial failure, the project wound up being a tremendous success and, eventually was expanded and improved, laying the groundwork for the nation's Interstate Highway System.

Railroads and steel helped build the towns of Mahoningtown and New Castle, and then became a leading producer of tinplate and fireworks.

Founded in 1798, New Castle was a small borough located at the confluence of the Shenango River and Neshannock Creek. Mahoningtown, a small borough located just south of New Castle, was a thriving community founded in 1836. The two towns boasted flourishing industries, and in 1896, a trolley line was created to run between them. In 1898, Mahoningtown officially became the seventh ward of New Castle. By that time, New Castle was a third-class city, and railroads and steel were the area's major industries. Eventually many important products were manufactured here, including both Castleton and Shenango China, which were used in the White House. New Castle became known first as the tinplate capital of the world and, later, as the fireworks capital of the world. The stunning postcards featured in New Castle and Mahoningtown document the fusion of these two communities. Among the memorable views are the diverse scenery and amusements of Cascade Park and the parade for baseball manager Chuck Tanner, who led the Pittsburgh Pirates to their fifth World Series.

Follow Archaeologist Darla Spencer as she discovers the history and habits of 16 Native American sites in West Virginia.

Once thought of as Indian hunting grounds with no permanent inhabitants, West Virginia is teeming with evidence of a thriving early native population. Today's farmers can hardly plow their fields without uncovering ancient artifacts, evidence of at least ten thousand years of occupation. Members of the Fort Ancient culture resided along the rich bottomlands of southern West Virginia during the Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric periods. Lost to time and rediscovered in the 1880s, Fort Ancient sites dot the West Virginia landscape. This volume explores sixteen of these sites, including Buffalo, Logan and Orchard. Archaeologist Darla Spencer excavates the fascinating lives of some of the Mountain State's earliest inhabitants in search of who these people were, what languages they spoke and who their descendants may be.

Savannah's Historic District is a steadfast remant of the Old South that continues to amaze residents and visitor to this day.

Covering just less than two-and-a-half square miles, Savannah's air is still sweetened by the scent of tea olives and jasmine, her streets are still lined with the rich palettes of azaleas and camellias, and her people are generous and welcoming. Savannah has enchanted residents and visitors alike for more than two-and-a-half centuries with a rich architectural heritage and a remarkable natural beauty. Founded on February 12, 1733, by Gen. James E. Oglethorpe, Savannah has played an active role on the American stage, in times of war and hardship, as well as in times of peace and prosperity. The city's location at the mouth of the Savannah River created one of the largest seaports on the east coast, and her history is as colorful and varied as the numerous industries that made their way to her banks. Within these pages readers will visit Savannah's signature squares and parks, including Forsyth Park and Colonial Park Cemetery, as well as buildings long since vanished from the city's landscape, such as the old DeSoto Hotel and the City Market. Also showcased are some of Savannah's private homes and public buildings, such as the Telfair Museum of Art, the Chatham County Courthouses, and Christ Church, and such memorable events as the fire of 1889.

Critically acclaimed author Joe Guy serves up a stout batch of East Tennessee history in this latest collection of articles from his popular newspaper column.

From Chattanooga up to Knoxville, and every town and holler in between, Guy recounts the absorbing and oft-forgotten history of this great region with stories of revenuers, Overmountain Men, Confederate cavalry girls, and the lost tribe of the Hiwassee, just to name a few. Discover how easy it is to get lost in The Hidden History of East Tennessee.

Whether you call it the Gateway to the Americas, the Capital of Latin America, or even the Magic City, Miami is a city that has enchanted millions for many years.

The city we know as Miami only came into existence in 1896, but evidence suggests people lived in the area for over 2000 years before Europeans ever set foot on the continent. The land was conquered by the Spanish in 1566, but Florida didn't become part of the United States until 1821. Miami holds the distinction of being the only major city founded by a woman - Julia Tuttle was a wealthy citrus grower who originally owned the land the city was built on. When a prolonged bout of cold weather known as the Great Freeze throttled crops further north, farmers arrived to the area in droves, and Tuttle convinced railroad tycoon Henry Flagler to extend his Florida East Coast Railway to the region, for which she became known as "the Mother of Miami." Miami has weathered yellow fever epidemics, the 1920s boom and bust, two World Wars, hurricanes, and numerous other economic ups and downs to become one of the world's great cities and the growth of South Florida.

Through more than 200 vintage photographs, Pittsburgh's Shadyside chronicles the personalities, places, institutions, and events that transformed a farming community into an affluent industrial-age suburb and diverse city neighborhood.

The suburb of Shadyside was established in the middle of farmland during the late 1860s when the Shadyside train station opened. As Pittsburgh grew into the world's preeminent industrial city, Shadyside became the home of many influential men of the industrial age. Rapid change struck Shadyside early in the 20th century when commerce sprouted up around the perimeter of the neighborhood to cater to the residents' demand for luxury goods and services. Within another decade industry moved in, especially close to the train tracks, and in 1915, the Ford Motor Company assembly plant opened in Shadyside.

Join Harry Kyriakodis as he strolls Front Street, Delaware Avenue, and Penn's Landing to rediscover the story of Philadelphia's lost waterfront.

The wharves and docks of William Penn's city that helped build a nation are gone lost to the onslaught of over 300 years of development. Yet the bygone streets and piers of Philadelphia's central waterfront were once part of the greatest tradecenter in the American colonies. Local historian Harry Kyriakodis chronicles the history of the city's original port district from Quaker settlers who first lived in caves along the Delaware and the devastating yellow fever epidemic of 1793 to its heyday as a maritime center and then the twentieth century that saw much of the historic riverfront razed.

Atlanta! The very name evokes a sense of grandeur and splendor and an aura of dominance. Indeed, today's Atlanta has no rival.

Present-day Atlanta prides itself in having one of the largest and busiest airports in the world, and 100 years ago, it boasted of having the busiest railroad center in the South. At its peak, its passenger stations dispatched countless numbers of trains to every major city in the country. This book recalls the building of the many stations that faithfully served Atlanta and records, with the exception of one, their final reduction to piles of rubble when they were of no further use, only to be remembered on paper and in the memories of those fortunate enough to have witnessed them.

Images of Rail: Pere Marquette 1225 presents the history of steam locomotive 1225, one of 39 Berkshire Class 2-8-4's built between 1937 and 1944 for the Pere Marquette Railway.

Although it is best known for being the sound and image behind the movie adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express, 1225 has a rich history that preceded a life as a movie star. From her construction at Lima Locomotive Works and important role in hauling material from factories to the front in World War II to her unlikely preservation on Michigan State University's campus and eventual restoration, the history of 1225 covers nearly 75 years. The locomotive is now housed at the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso, Michigan, and the story behind it will take readers back to a time when whistles in the night charged the imagination and the United States truly was the "Arsenal of Democracy."

Explore the charming city with a timeless style and resilient population, ever-vigilant against the potential of another destructive wave.

Hilo (pronounced ""Hee-low"") is the second largest city in Hawai'i and the seat of government for the Big Island of Hawai'i. Giant trees shade its avenues, and a string of picturesque beach parks line the crescent-shaped shoreline of Hilo Bay. It was from here that King Kamehameha the Great launched his fleet of war canoes to conquer the Hawaiian Islands and, later, where whaling ships and schooners dropped their cargoes of sailors, missionaries, and sundry goods. The bay is still active with modern seafaring vessels enjoying the protected waters inside a famous stone breakwater. Two majestic and scenic mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, overlook the city and the bay. Hilo itself holds many stories of ancient gods, kings and queens, the missionaries who came to challenge both, immigrants who came to work the sugar cane fields, and numerous destructive tsunamis that Mother Nature sent to challenge them. Century-old buildings remain, as do the descendants of merchants that prospered here.

Over 200 images are set in geographical sequence to guide the reader along the famed Henry Hudson trail.

The Central Railroad of New Jersey's Seashore Branch provided rail and boat services from New York City to points along the New Jersey Shore. It discontinued passenger service in 1966, with the last freight train operating in 1983. Official abandonment proceedings sparked the need to keep the right of way for future mass transit needs. This led to interim use. Today, the area is called the Henry Hudson Trail and is one of over 500 parks referred to nationally as a Rail-Trail. This free, ten-mile-long, hiking, biking, and walking trail is administered by the Monmouth County Parks System, and connects several towns of the Raritan Bay shore area. This rare look will enlighten trail users through images of views gone forever, while pointing out structures still in place. Over 200 images are set in geographical sequence to guide the reader along the trail.

The history of the Western North Carolina Railroad is a tale like no other, filled with tragedy, heroism, brains, blood, sweat, tears, nitroglycerin and humor.

Now a tourist mecca, the Great Smoky Mountains were a remote and inaccessible place until well after the Civil War. Using first enslaved and later convict labor the Western North Carolina Railroad and Murphy Branch connected the mountains with the remainder of the state by rail for the first time in 1891. The railroad brought commerce and tourism. Though its vital role was eventually eclipsed by the automobile, tourists and rail buffs continue to come to Bryson City to experience travel by steam train on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad.

Local authors Jacob Morgan Plott and Bob Plott tell the story of a line that refused to die.

In World War II Hawaii, experience the untold stories of Hawaii at war where children worked the pineapple fields and women served in armed volunteer units. Makeshift bomb shelters were constructed, trenches dug around public buildings, and barbed wire strung on beaches. This tropical paradise transitioned into an active war front where over one million servicemen and tens of thousands of civilian defense workers came through and changed Hawaii forever. 

Within hours of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, martial law was declared in Hawaii. Schools were taken over by the military, and neighborhoods were evacuated. All communication was censored, and every citizen was fingerprinted and registered. The US government burned over $2 million and replaced it with newly minted currency that had “Hawaii” stamped on it in case of invasion by the Empire of Japan.

Dorothea N. Buckingham is a librarian, author, and World War II historian. John C. Buckingham is a retired US Marine Corps officer, author, and active docent with Pearl Harbor museums. Through this collection of rarely seen images, taken mainly from the Hawaii War Records Depository, they present daily life in Hawaii during World War II as it has never been seen before.

The prosperous town of Wyandotte in Michigan, named for the Wyandott Indians, has been the home to American industry and the people who helped to build it.

Wyandotte, located between Detroit and Toledo along the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario, has enriched area history from the days of the first inhabitants, the Wyandott Indians and French farmers, through the industrial ages of iron and steel. In latter years, Wyandotte has been the stage for the manufacture of the first steel rails and iron plate and was home to shipbuilding and chemical industries. All of these contributed significantly to the growth of the nation and to the continuing development of a great American city. Businesses, churches, and community organizations are captured in these historic photographs, along with the people whose commitment to hard work helped the city prosper and grow.

The city of Bloomington and Indiana University were linked from the start, grew together and still share joys and sorrows 180 years after their founding.

The many vintage photographs in this pictorial history bring to life both historical ambiance and transformation in town and gown from the late 1800s to the present. When Monroe County was organized in southern Indiana in 1818, hilly, thickly-wooded Bloomington became the county seat. The first courthouse was a log cabin, and 30 families made up the town. Six years later, when Bloomington's population had increased to 500, Indiana's first public institution of higher learning opened with 10 students and a single professor. It would grow to become Indiana University, and start building its present campus in 1884. Bloomington prospered during these decades through the presence of IU, as many as 40 industries, and its growing production of limestone. The town's Beaux Arts courthouse building (1907) and IU's wooded central campus form Bloomington's signature twin landmarks. Around them lie many distinctive neighborhoods, a now-extensive campus with Big Ten sports arenas, and a picturesque countryside that draws bicyclists from across the nation.