Marketplace

Explore the fascinating history of Jefferson County, New York with more than 200 vintage photographs and anecdotes from the locals who experienced it.

During the height of industrialization, Jefferson County, New York, came into its own as a prosperous and bustling center of trade and manufacturing. Join author Elise Davis Chan of the Jefferson County Historical Society in celebrating the growth of this great region, from the county's early settlement c. 1800 to the area‚'s post-World War II prosperity in the 1950s.

With a simple turn of the page, readers travel back in time to the small towns that hug the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, and we visit the city of Watertown and the inland towns dotting the Jefferson County landscape. In the early 1900s, the grand hotels along the St. Lawrence were popular destinations for out-of-town guests during the summer months. Images of the area's hotels, churches, train stations, schoolhouses, homes, and workplaces all give us a distinct picture of what life was like for the people living in this region in the 1800s and early 1900s. Private homes are also featured, like the grand abode of former New York Governor Roswell P Flower, and the island castle of George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

February 22, 1960, bore witness to an event that would forever change the social, political, and economic life of a city, a state, and millions of inhabitants.

The arrest of 34 Virginia Union University students during a sit-in protest at the most upscale department store in Richmond, Virginia, heralded the upending of a long-established way of life and a change of direction from which there would be no turning back. The students would see their actions galvanize a community into effecting wide-ranging reforms in desegregation and play a significant role in ending the nearly 70-year grip on power of one of the nation’s strongest political machines. Bafflingly, their achievement faded into obscurity, and only in recent years has its importance been recognized.

Dr. Kimberly A. Matthews is a professor of leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Matthews earned her doctorate in education at Virginia Commonwealth University (2012) and began teaching with Virginia Commonwealth University’s LEAD living-learning program. She is the author of a history of the Richmond Crusade for Voters. Dr. Raymond Pierre Hylton is professor of history at Virginia Union University. Dr. Hylton earned his doctorate in history at the University College Dublin, Ireland (1986), and first taught at Virginia Union as an adjunct instructor in 1988. He became a full-time faculty member in 1991 and served as dean and department chair. He is the author of a History of Virginia Union University.

Once known as a "brickyard town," the small town of Manteno holds a special place for not just Americans, but for French, Canadians, and Indigenous people as well.

Though the village of Manteno was only formed thanks to the Illinois Central Railroad in 1869, the area had been populated for generations before that - Manteno's name derives from Mawteno, a Potawatomi maiden whose people lived in the area before the arrival of Europeans. Farming has always been a mainstay in Manteno, and its importance continues today, but Manteno's boundaries widened as a mental hospital opened on its eastern border in 1930 and a major interstate sprang up on its western edge decades later. Part of the French-Canadian Heritage Corridor, it was common to hear French on the streets of Manteno well into the 20th century by many residents as well as by an order of nuns from Paris who chose Manteno for a Catholic boarding school - a school they operated for more than six decades. Among former Mantenoans is a man who won the "Grand Prize of the World" in 1900, a woman who canvassed for women's rights legislation that swept the nation in the 19th century, and a family who left its mark on the history of American aviation.

From Nashville's earliest days as a pioneer town in Middle Tennessee, it would be nothing without its African American community.

Like many cities of the Antebellum South, Nashville was built by enslaved people, as African Americans built the first successful water system, maintained the streets, cultivated crops, and bred livestock. For years, Nashville was considered one of the wealthiest Southern cities, but after the Civil War, it struggled to regain that status while its newly freed Black citizens struggled to survive the South's Reconstruction and subsequent Jim Crow laws. As the Civil Rights era brought long-needed reforms, the Black community of Nashville has persevered through their determination, spiritual strength, and the unique leadership fostered by the visionary city they call home.

Downtown Gary: Millrats, Politics, and US Steel provides a glimpse of the Gary of yesteryear when downtown was the social, cultural, and political center of the community.

Before the era of gigantic shopping malls, big-box stores, and online shopping, the commercial centers of major American cities were located in areas often referred to as downtown. From the 1920s through the 1960s, people from throughout the Calumet Region flocked to the Steel City's popular stores, theaters, and restaurants by car, bus, and the South Shore Railroad. For many, Gordon's, Lytton's, Sears, and Goldblatt's bring back memories of window-shopping, making layaway plans, visiting Santa, and being asked "May I help you?" by courteous employees. Downtown Gary: Millrats, Politics, and US Steel provides a look at the stores, politics, churches, schools, and of course, United States Steel Corporation and the millrats of forgotten Gary.

From birthplace of the American Revolution to Home of Uncle Sam, the ""Collar City's"" storied history is told through 200 photographs.

Troy, New York has earned some distinctive titles in its more than 200 years of existence. ""The Home of Uncle Sam,"" ""The Collar City,"" and the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, Troy has a colorful and engaging history. The city's rich human and industrial legacy is explored in this unprecedented pictorial collection. Troy celebrates the city where 19-year-old Kate Mullaney, an Irish Immigrant, organized 200 women for the first all-female labor union (Collar Laundry Union) more than a century ago. It is where Bessemer Steel was first poured in America, and where the plates for the ironclad ship, the Monitor, were manufactured--an event that lead to a turning point for the North during the Civil War. Troy was the home of Samuel Wilson, who packed beef for the U. S. Army during the War of 1812, and where the famous trademark U. S. , better known as Uncle Sam, originated. The premier cast-iron stove manufacturing center during the early 19th century, Troy was responsible for heating homes around the world. It earned the reputation of ""The Collar City"" when, at one time, 15,000 workers produced more than $40 million worth of collars, cuffs, and shirts per year. With more than 200 photographs, most of which come from the rich archives of the Rensselaer County Historical Society, Troy spans much of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Lighthouses of the North Atlantic Coast will explore many of the lighthouses and breakwater, pier, and reef lights in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Whether it is Portland Head Lighthouse in Maine or Fenwick Island Lighthouse in Delaware, then as now, people love to visit the lights while on holiday and send postcards back home. Many of these important navigational aids are still in existence and can be visited.

With Syracuse, readers can explore the architecture, lifestyles, landscapes, and transportation modes of this city from before the Civil War to the mid-1970s.

As we approach the twenty-first century, many people are seeking to connect with their community's roots in order to better understand their own past and to make thoughtful choices about the future. Within these pages, readers come face-to-face with the nineteenth-century citizens who shaped the city; Syracuse University football and lacrosse legends; and individuals like Colonel Homer Wheaton, who became the first soldier from Syracuse to be struck down in World War I, sacrificing his life to save comrades from an exploding grenade. Other intriguing discoveries include a series of views showcasing the lost mansions of James Street, images of the main line New York Central Railroad tracks that ran though the middle of downtown for one hundred years, and scenes of the former salt manufacturing industry which once defined Syracuse as it is still known today-"The Salt City."

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

Ossining commands a position high on the banks of the Hudson River, at the edge of Westchester County, New York. Perhaps best known as the location of Sing Sing Prison, Ossining is rich in history and in personal memories. The history and memories come through clearly in this book of exceptional photographs.

Ossining Remembered focuses on the heart of the town, from Main Street out to the river. Included are images of places that made downtown Ossining the dynamic community it once was--the theater, the cigar store, and the bakery. Also featured are vintage photographs of the riverfront mansions and estates, the numerous educational institutions and churches, and, of course, the famous prison.

Most of the photographs in this collection come from the archives of the Ossining Historical Society Museum. Others have been loaned by local residents. Through these images, members of the society portray the town as they knew it, lived in it, and loved it before much of it was erased by shopping centers and parking lots. A valuable and entertaining source of local history, Ossining Remembered captures the vibrant spirit of the community and celebrates the people and places that helped shape its remarkable past.