New Book Releases

St. Petersburg Then & Now retells the history of the area in images comparing its beginnings to present day.

As the ""Sunshine City"" of St. Petersburg forges onward with new and exciting developments, a legacy of landmarks still remains. The founding fathers envisioned St. Petersburg as a city with great potential for progress and growth. Over the past century, St. Petersburg has far exceeded these vast expectations.

Time often stands still along the picturesque shores that dot one of North Carolina's favorite barrier islands.

Islanders have always loved Topsail's quiet, small-town charm and seclusion. Local author and photographer BJ Cothran shows how this beloved vacation spot and popular retirement community has survived major storms, growing pains, and modern development.

Daily change in any city can be difficult to recognize.  Although everyone notices when a building is razed, it is more challenging to identify the subtle alterations occurring regularly which make a city slightly different than it was the day before.  It is for precisely this reason the authors have decided to capture the changing face of Dubuque through a compelling selection of over 80 vintage images, each paired with its modern counterpart. Older residents will be able to identify many of the long-gone structures pictured in this volume, but newer arrivals will uncover a Dubuque they never knew existed.  Public institutions, parks, homes, and entire blocks have been altered, and from the birth of photography to the present, these changes are documented in this volume.  The physical contrasts between Dubuque's residents today and those of long ago are immediately apparent.  Fashions and jobs are always evolving, but the similarities outnumber the differences.  The people of Dubuque are, as always, hard-working and self-reliant, and they remain proud of their heritage and their town.

As we move out of the past and into the present, our landscape is forever altered by the passing of time. The face of Kokomo, The City of Firsts, has changed over the years. Once an image of small-town Americana, Kokomo has grown-expanding its industrial reach, enticing new residents, and continuing to be the first in a number of fields.

Kokomo, Indiana: Then and Now takes the reader back to a simpler time in Kokomo history. Using historic images paired with contemporary photos, authors Thomas D. and Barbara Hamilton have created a charming view of the area's history and evolution.

In 1870, the communities of Astoria, Dutch Kills, Hunters Point, Ravenswood, and others, merged to form a new municipality: Long Island City.

The once independent city continued to exist as an incorporated city until 1898, when all of Queens was annexed to New York City. The factories that supported Long Island City throughout most of the 20th century have been all but abandoned, but since the beginning of the 21st century, large-scale gentrification projects have been undertaken, such as Hunter's Point South. As high-rises replace single-family homes, Long Island City would be unrecognizable to people of the early villages and hamlets that created it. The Greater Astoria Historical Society and photographer Gary Vollo explore the unique places that have shaped Long Island City's development.

Beginning as an agricultural community, Weymouth evolved into a bustling shipping port and a manufacturing town with numerous shoe factories and an iron works. Later, it became a seaside vacation community, a postwar suburb, and finally a modern town with public transportation, a respected hospital, and a great school system.

Queens offers a rare look at New York City's largest borough, featuring many never-before-seen images.

The borough of Queens, New York, has seen many historical and geographical changes. Marshlands, woods, and farms gave way to factories, thriving communities, and the nation's premier arterial highway system.

Discover the Chattanooga landmarks that remain and the ones that exist only in images and fading memories.

Twenty-five years ago, the citizens of Chattanooga met together to plot the future of their city by reinvigorating the town's origins by the river. Changes since then have refreshed the city and the waterfront, renewing energy in this friendly Southern town.

The Spanish landed in Florida in 1513 and established St. Augustine in 1565, over four decades before the Virginia Company settled Jamestown and five decades before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

Henry Flagler transformed the sleepy port into a winter resort for the affluent, and the quaint college town still displays some of the nation's oldest and most beautiful architecture.

In 1903, chocolate magnate Milton S. Hershey founded the model town of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Today, the Hershey community remains home to The Hershey Company as well as a number of commercial, educational, and philanthropic institutions that continue to bear the Hershey name.

Warren County, Tennessee, was founded in 1807 and named after Dr. Joseph Warren, who fought in the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Throughout its history, much has changed.

Little Rock is small by capital-city standards, but much like larger capitals, it has been quick to demolish the old in favor of the new. There are still striking structures tucked away here and there, and to appreciate how Little Rock has evolved from sleepy, steamboat days to a booming tourist destination, Arcadia Publishing presents photographs from past and present.

When John Wood built his first log cabin in 1822 at what is now Front and Delaware Streets, he began a settlement that would become Quincy, Illinois.

To the east was a high bluff, and to the west, the Mississippi River. As the town grew, it moved eastward onto the bluff. In Qunicy's early days, the settlers depended on the Mississippi River for their livelihood. Today's residents still depend upon the Mississippi, but now more for transportation and for pleasure. It is difficult today to imagine what the area looked like in those early years. As with many American towns, Quincy has experienced change through the years, dramatic and subtle, both captured here in the unforgettable images of Then & Now: Quincy, Illinois.

As we approach the 241st anniversary of the settlement on the banks of the mighty Mississippi that came to be the metropolis of St. Louis, it is appropriate to look back at this great city. We have precious few physical reminders of the days of Laclede and Chouteau. It wasn't until the mid–19th century that we regularly recorded via photographs the development (and destruction) of the sights that make St. Louis unique. It is through these images that we have the marvelous capability to look back and view our city through the eyes of our predecessors: To see the things that were here decades ago and still look the same; to see things that no longer exist, and to see what we have replaced them with; to see what we have preserved, and what we have discarded; and to see the present via the images of the past. There is no way to encompass all the changes that this city has seen in one book. The views in this book will give the reader a representative selection of the more recognizable sights in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The intent is to include most of the major places and things that everyone identifies with St. Louis. But also included are more obscure photos that show scenes with which many of our ancestors would also identify. There will always be progress, but that which is lost is worth remembering. So sit back, relax, and take a stroll down the streets of St. Louis as our ancestors knew them.

Springfield chronicles the town's history from 1890 to the present with over two hundred historic photographs collected by author Harry Laybourne over the past 43 years.

Referred to as Champion City, Home City, and City of Roses, Springfield's diversity and pride inspires various nicknames from its residents.First settled in 1799, Springfield quickly grew to become one of Ohio's most important industrial towns, the products of its great factories encirclingthe globe.  Laybourne gives the reader a chance to experience what Springfield was like in the Good Old Days with fascinating scenes of its people and places—the lively downtown area, its beautiful parks, theaters and opera houses, swimming beaches, universities, bustling factories and businesses, as well as views of several buildings that no longer line the streets of downtown Springfield.