Marketplace

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.

From the earliest tribes who hunted and fished to the tourists who relaxed on the beaches, St. Simons Island has been part of the landscape of Georgia's coast.

When Gen. James E. Oglethorpe established Fort Frederica to protect Savannah and the Carolinas from the threat of Spain, the island was, for a short time, a vibrant hub of British military operations. During the latter part of the 1700s, a plantation society thrived on the island until the outbreak of the War Between the States. Never to return to an agricultural community, by 1870 St. Simons re-established itself with the development of a booming timber industry. At the turn of the century, the pleasant climate and proximity to the sea drew tourists to St. Simons as a year-round resort. Although the causeway had brought large numbers of summer visitors to the island, St. Simons remained a sleepy little place with only a few hundred permanent residents until 1941.

Ottawa and Pottawatomi Indians called Muskegon home at least 200 years before Jean Baptiste Recollect opened his trading post in 1836. Michigan's abundant forests created the logging industry.

Lumber mills flourished as the Muskegon River and Lake Michigan provided easy transport. The city was called the Lumber Queen, and it was said that Muskegon lumber built Chicago. The lumber barons' influence is still felt. Charles Hackley's name graces a major street, park, library, and hospital, and the local hockey team is called the Lumberjacks. Shipping followed, with Brunswick, Sealed Power, and Continental Motors among the industrial heavyweights. Residents have also appreciated cultural pursuits. The famed Actors' Colony, founded by the Keaton family, is where Buster honed his vaudeville skills before hitting the big time. Max Gruber's Oddities of the Jungle act featured an elephant that rode a tricycle and bowled. Former area residents include M*A*S*H star Harry Morgan, astronaut David Leetsma, two Miss Americas, singers Iggy Pop and Wayne Static, and sports greats Earl Morrall, Bobby Grich, and Nate McLouth. Snowboarding began here but was called "snurfing" (snow surfing).

A major river port, Madison thrived during the steamboat era as well as when railroads came to dominate the landscape. The city's glorious past is still on display. Many magnificent edifices dating back to eras from the beginning of the 1800s to the early 20th century provide wonderful examples of Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate architecture. The National Register of Historic Places lists over 133 Madison blocks, making it Indiana's largest historic district. To stroll along the main streets of Madison, to follow the river as it meanders past the town, or to visit the restored railroad station, now home to the Jefferson County Historical Society, is to follow the paths of history. Very few cities in America can boast such centuries-old splendor.

Until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, Buffalo was a sleepy town. Access to an abundant supply of fresh water led to a thriving farming industry, provided a means of transportation, and powered mills and factories.

Adding to the hustle and bustle of the city's busy new harbor was Joseph Dart's local invention of the grain elevator. Buffalo's location on Lake Erie, and its growth during the second industrial revolution, helped the city become the eighth largest in America and established it as the Queen City. It has been home to future presidents and inventors who have influenced millions. The city's original radial street design, the layout of its parks, and its majestic architecture make Buffalo fascinating and unique.

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.

Detroit Free Press journalist Robert Allen sifts through these advertising fossils, exposing the gripping stories connected to the Motor City's historic rises, falls and eccentricities.

Across Detroit, fleeting symbols of the past hide in plain sight, behind weeds and under veneers of paint. Demolishing a vacant building among empty storefronts on the west side uncovered the telltale gold and green of a Vernors Ginger Ale sign, preserved almost as vibrantly as the artist intended. In faded red, white and blue, Mac-O-Lac Paint makes an expired pitch to passersby on Gratiot near Eastern Market. On the east side, Mohawk Rock and Rye still declares itself the ""World's Finest!"" Carhartt, Stroh's and Faygo appear in odd, deserted places.

Although its role has changed over the past few centuries, the Mississippi has always been important to those who lived along its banks. Indigenous peoples fished its waters and depended on the waterway for transportation. Explorers and traders traveled the river in hopes of conquering more land and obtaining wealth for their countries. Settlers moved close to take advantage of the rich farmland the river provided. All of these pursuits resulted in a trade industry that brought about a social and economic transformation, when news and goods made their way downriver and livelihoods were provided. In fact, the Mississippi River's economic and strategic value was so important that when Ulysses S. Grant won the siege of Vicksburg and control of the river during the Civil War, the Confederacy was dealt a serious blow. Today, although still used to transport goods, the river has taken on yet another identity: that of entertainer. Literature, pleasure boats, and floating casinos all showcase a new dimension of this magnificent river.

Once known as Gasparilla Island, Boca Grande has become one of the best places to vacation and live.

Life on Gasparilla Island once had a very different rhythm. With a past intimately tied to Charlotte Harbor and the rich fishing grounds it provided, Gasparilla Island was, in its early history, the site of a small fishing village and a commercial fishery. The discovery of phosphate deposits in the region and the introduction of the railroad soon increased the pace of life, and a thriving port was built on the island's south end. As the twentieth century dawned and the Florida boom loomed on the horizon, the town of Boca Grande began to hum with the activity of a rapidly growing population. Though much has changed through the years--the little fishing village has vanished, the estimable Boca Grande Hotel is gone, and the once bustling port is now a state park--much of the region's unique history continues to inform the modern landscape. The venerable lighthouse, constructed in 1890, now serves as a museum of local history, and the grand Gasparilla Inn still stands firmly upon its original 1911 site. Those who now call Boca Grande home cherish it for the same island magic that fishermen and railroad officials recognized long ago: its unspoiled natural beauty, inviting climate, world-class fishing, and welcoming community.

Newtown has a rich heritage that is abundant with historic charm, a three-century-long growth founded on deep agricultural roots with a notable role in American history.

Once a busy commercial and cultural center, Newtown served as the county seat of Bucks County from 1726 to 1813. It was within this community the shots of British raiding parties resounded off homes and businesses, and from this small town on Christmas morning in 1776, General George Washington marched from his headquarters to join the Battle of Trenton. Over the succeeding years, Newton quietly transformed back into the pastoral town it had once been. Despite the many changes the town has seen, traces of this historic past remain still. From the archives of the Newtown Historic Association, Historic Newtown offers the reader a unique opportunity to see everyday life in this rural community as it was at the beginning of the 20th century. Within these photographs are many rare and never before published glimpses into the past of one of the oldest and most historic towns in Pennsylvania.

This collection of over 200 images chronicles the life and times of this once fledgling township established in 1843, to its incorporation as a city in 1951, and on to its present day prosperity.

During the late 19th century, a small group of Frenchmen from the fort at Detroit settled north along the shore of Lake St. Clair at the mouth of the Milk River. Originally known as L'anse Creuse, this tiny settlement soon grew into a bustling farming community. Historian Arthur M. Woodford has compiled maps, photographs, and drawings to tell the story of this ""Village on the Lake."" Here the reader will find views of Lake St. Clair, the Milk River, and the many 19th century families and farms that fostered the growth of the area. Included are the stories of the infamous Blossom Heath Inn, Jefferson Beach Amusement Park, the grand Masonic Country Club, and the Interurban railway. Following World War Two, St. Clair Shores grew as part of the population boom of southeastern Michigan, and this once quiet village is now a modern suburban community of over 66,ooo residents.

Schuylkill County in east central Pennsylvania was built from the rich southern fields of anthracite coal.

The era when coal was king has long since passed, but the story of the development of the anthracite coal industry that fueled the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. has not been lost, and its legacy still influences our modern world. When Broad Mountain was conquered by the railroads and the Mahanoy plane was built, coal could be brought up over the mountain to reach its markets. The transportation that was necessary to get the coal to the rapidly developing markets in Philadelphia, New York, and New England caused the development of the towns in northern Schuylkill County such as Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, and Ashland during the 1850s–1860s. The vivid details and nuances of local community life from the 1850s to the 1920s are brought to light in this wonderful collection by historians Leo L. Ward and Mark T. Major.