New Book Releases

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.

Once known as the "Dry Capital of the World," with all sales of alcohol prohibited within the village limits, Westerville's formal incorporation came in 1858 with a population under 700 residents. Though modernization has affected the city, now with a population over 37,000, Westerville still maintains its small-town atmosphere and historic appearance.

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.