Arcadia Bestsellers

Founded in 1641, Stamford is one of the oldest towns in New England. The images in this book date from the Civil War through the end of World War I.

Founded in 1641, Stamford is one of the oldest towns in New England. The resulting influx of immigrants and industrial expansion that followed transformed Stamford from a rural community into a bustling city. Although once a stopping place on the stagecoach route between New York and Boston, Stamford remained largely agrarian until the coming of the railroad in 1848. The images in this book date from the Civil War through the end of World War I, from the earliest available photographs to the established use of the automobile. It is a time that saw the gristmills become factories and old frame trading posts be replaced by imposing brick structures. During these years the people of Stamford supported the Union Cause and voted for Grover Cleveland; they built new homes, churches, schools, and parks; they established a hospital and a library; they joined the YMCA, went yachting, and always turned out for a parade.

Prior to its incorporation in 1855, Tampa Town--as it was then known--was a desolate place to live, and disease and isolation kept many from settling in the area.

But as the century progressed, a new and exciting mode of transportation began to open up America's remaining frontiers, including the untamed Gulf Coast of Florida. When the railroad came to Tampa, thousands of adventure-seekers, tourists, and new residents came with it, all ready to soak up the balmy breezes and tropical pleasures of the city of Tampa.Tampa began to resemble a modern industrialized city by the turn of the century, due mainly to the grand vision and plans of one man. Henry B. Plant encouraged Tampa's growth by bringing the railroad to town and constructing the elaborate Tampa Bay Hotel, and he, along with other entrepreneurs, brought an economic boom to the region with new industries, such as cigars and citrus, and the promotion of tourism.

Around Houlton documents the history of this town with Yankee pioneer spirit from potato farming to Market Square.

Since the development of photography in the mid-19th century, the camera has been used as a tool of both discovery and preservation. Photographs bring alive our picture of the past in a way that other historic relics cannot, and they tell us much more than at first appears. Houlton, Maine, is a town still infused with the Yankee pioneer spirit, an independence that can be traced back to Houlton's roots at the beginning of the 19th century. This is reflected in nearly every face in this delightful selection of images of the people of Houlton and its surrounding communities in the century between 1850 and 1950. Some of the best photographs are those that simply show ""how things used to be""--pictures of potato farming, of industry, of lively activity in Market Square, and of peaceful summer recreation at cottages at Nickerson, Grand, and Drew's Lakes.

In the 1840s, the Erie Railroad construction, which runs along the floor of the Canisteo Valley, began.

The first train traveled through the valley on May 14, 1851, opening the region to industry and shipping. The town grew rapidly, and several hamlets sprung up within the township. In the 1930s, an alfalfa farmer planted Scotch pines on the hillside overlooking the valley, spelling out the name Canisteo to the world; the sign appeared in a Ripley's Believe It or Not! book. Today, Canisteo is a bedroom community, as most residents enjoy the peacefulness of the valley they call home while traveling to surrounding communities to work. Local farms produce cattle and crops while many visitors come for the hunting.

The truth is out there, hidden in remote, tucked-away corners of the Hudson River Valley…Are you ready to uncover it?

In Hauntings of the Hudson River Valley, author Vin Dacquino strives to discover the true story behind three enigmatic folk legends: Sybil Ludington, Chief Daniel Nimham, and George Denny. Each was the central figure in a dramatic series of events; each became enshrined in local lore for their actions; each has had their true story obscured; and each may have left behind a spiritual residue. Follow Dacquino as he interviews local experts, explores areas where hauntings may have occurred--such as Carmel's legendary Smalley's Inn--and digs deep into historical archives to open new windows into the lives and possible afterlives of these three mysterious characters.

Plainview-Old Bethpage presents an intriguing story of two vibrant Long Island communities that share a colorful 300-year-old history.

They were once quaint farming communities that almost overnight found themselves facing seismic cultural changes. In just 10 years, from 1950 to 1960, the combined population of Plainview and Old Bethpage soared from 2,000 to over 33,000. Plainview-Old Bethpage presents a journey back in time to the Native Americans, the settlers who followed, the farmers who worked the land, and the thousands who came to make a better life for their families. Discover why every town surrounding Plainview-Old Bethpage has a railroad station but it does not. Read about the resident who raised a Confederate flag during the Civil War and drew the ire of his neighbors. Ride along with race car drivers as they hurtle along dirt roads at breakneck speed. Learn about the deadly brawl on Election Day in 1890, the infamous Plainview kidnapper who got the electric chair, and a local company's role in molding a national memorial to Vietnam veterans.

Over the course of several centuries, Baltimore evolved from a Colonial-era port city to a thriving and dynamic city of nearly a million people at the conclusion of World War II

As the city grew, a wide variety of industries were established. Railroads, ports, manufacturing sites, and public infrastructure, such as power plants, fundamentally transformed large swaths of Baltimore's landscape. However, the second half of the 20th century saw a dramatic and often traumatic restructuring of the city's economy; individual businesses and entire industrial sectors downsized, relocated, or completely collapsed. Today many such areas of Baltimore have changed radically as abandoned manufacturing sites have been demolished or converted to new uses. Images of America: Industrial Baltimore documents a vital component of the city's working past through historic photographs of the people and sites that made the city an essential economic engine of the Industrial Revolution.

For more than five centuries, the waterways surrounding Long Island have profoundly shaped its history.

Familiar subjects of lighthouses, shipwrecks and whaling are found alongside oft-forgotten oddities such as Pan-American flying boats landing in Manhasset Bay in the early days of transatlantic flight. From the British blockade and skirmishes during the American Revolution to the sinking of merchant vessels by Germany in World War II, the sea brought wars to these shores. By the later part of the 20th century, Gold Coast millionaires commuted in high-speed yachts to Manhattan offices as the island's wealth grew. Historian Bill Bleyer reveals Long Island's nautical bonds from the Native Americans to current efforts to preserve the region's maritime heritage.

If you were a Confederate prisoner during the Civil War, you might have ended up in this infamous military prison in Chicago.

More Confederate soldiers died in Chicago's Camp Douglas than on any Civil War battlefield. Originally constructed in 1861 to train forty thousand Union soldiers from the northern third of Illinois, it was converted to a prison camp in 1862. Nearly thirty thousand Confederate prisoners were housed there until it was shut down in 1865. Today, the history of the camp ranges from unknown to deeply misunderstood. David Keller offers a modern perspective of Camp Douglas and a key piece of scholarship in reckoning with the legacy of other military prisons.

Newark is an engaging history of this New Jersey community.

Newark, New Jersey's largest city, was founded in 1666 by a small band of Puritans from Connecticut. It grew to be a major manufacturing center for leather articles, carriages, beer, thread, Celluloid, jewelry, and literally thousands of other items. With the development of the Passaic River region, Newark also became a transportation hub. The Morris Canal, major highways, and train lines cut through the city, and the Newark airport in the meadows became, for a time, the world's busiest. People from every corner of the world came to the town seeking jobs, education, entertainment, and friends. They established ethnic neighborhoods, churches, synagogues, stores, and theaters, where their native languages were spoken.

Today this railroad, most often called the Monon, is only a memory of a time when trains streaked across the hills and farmland of southern Indiana. The Monon Railroad in Southern Indiana examines the real purpose of railroads as movers of people and the products they devoted their lives to producing and focuses on areas from New Albany to Bloomington. It identifies the only two counties in Indiana that were a part of the Salem limestone district and gives a glimpse of how the stone was removed from the earth and eventually formed into some of the nation's most beloved buildings and structures. It also takes a look at the history of several lumber-based industries and the famed products that they manufactured. New Albany was once known across America as a key producer of hardwood plywood, used in custom cabinetry, and the Showers Brothers Furniture Company of Bloomington was once the largest manufacturer of furniture in America. This book talks about the industries that created the cities and towns that many Hoosiers called home.

The Battle of Piedmont has long been considered a small battle with massive consequences. A must-have for Shenandoah Valley and Civil War enthusiasts.

In 1864, General Grant tasked General David Hunter with raiding the breadbasket of the Shenandoah Valley and destroying the Confederate factories and supply lines. General Lee dispatched General William E. ""Grumble"" Jones, and the forces collided up the fertile fields of eastern Augusta County. It was a bloody day--the Battle of Piedmont saw more men killed and wounded than in any of Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley encounters. Sweeping on to victory, Federal forces then occupied Staunton and laid waste to the railroad and Confederate workshops.

Join Civil War historian Scott C. Patchan, a leading authority on the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign and sitting member of Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation's Resource Protection Committee, as he chronicles the campaign and sheds light on its place in the war.

Discover how Williamsburg came to be one of New York's trendiest neighborhoods.

There is no New York neighborhood that boasts a richer history or more exciting present than Williamsburg. At first a quiet waterside community, Williamsburg briefly became a wealthy suburb of Manhattan in the middle of the nineteenth century. Heavy industrialization and a tidal wave of immigrants later turned Williamsburg into New York's poorest, most crowded quarter. With images drawn chiefly from the rich photographic collection of the Brooklyn Historical Society, Williamsburg illustrates the neighborhood's transformation from one of New York's most impoverished and least fashionable neighborhoods to a modern-day example of the city's capacity for self-renewal.