This document contains a collection of photographs from the United States between the 1800s and early 1900s, showing various scenes of daily life, transportation, industry, and infrastructure during that time period. Many of the photos were taken by the Detroit Photographic Company and depict locations and events across the country, such as Coney Island, the Erie Canal, banana docks, and the first transcontinental railroad. The Detroit Photographic Company specialized in producing photochrom postcards through chromolithography to colorize black and white photographs and distribute realistic color images before widespread color photography.

1. The United States 1800’s and Early 1900’s

2. Maine – Trucks waiting to
unload potatoes at starch factory

3. Jacksonville, Florida, circa 1910.
"Forsyth Street west from City Hall."

4. Washington, D.C. " The officer and his Henderson #1. National
Photo Company Collection glass negative.

6. . September 1938. "Farm wife
washing clothes. Lake Dick
Project, Arkansas." 35mm
negative by Russell Lee,
Farm Security Administration

7. Washington, D.C., circa 1919.
"Oppenheimer's dress shop."

8. New York circa 1901. "The Great Coal Mine, Coney Island." From
the book Coney Island and Astroland: "The Great Coal Mine was a
1,500-foot-long dark ride that enabled visitors to travel on coal cars
through several levels of a dimly lit simulated mine. It opened in
1901 on the north side of Surf Avenue at West Tenth Street

9. Florida circa 1904. "Beach Street, Daytona." There is a early Coca-
Cola sign on Burdine's Pharmacy. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit
Publishing Co.

10. New York circa 1905.
"Main tower, Luna Park,
Coney Island."

11. April 1864. "Brandy Station, Virginia. Gen. Rufus Ingalls on
horseback. Photograph from the main Eastern theater of war --
winter quarters at Brandy Station." Wet plate glass negative by
Timothy H. O'Sullivan.

12. March 1909. Bridgeport, Connecticut. -- Boys selling papers at the depot.
Smallest one has been selling for eight years.“ Photograph by Lewis Wickes
Hine.

13. Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, circa 1910. "Hotel
. (New) Mathewson." For many years the pre-eminent
lodging in the "City of Hotels."

14. "Dreamland Park, Coney Island“
(Original Image). 1906 - It's hard
to believe it all burned to the
ground. This was one heck of a
coloring job but I was intrigued
to see Dreamland as it might
have been. If only we could visit
this amazing place.

15. Washington, D.C., or vicinity circa 1925. "No. 89 --
Cemetery picture - One last look around topside.
National Photo glass negative.

16. New York circa 1905. "Surf bathing at Coney Island."
The latest in revealing swimwear!

17. May 27, 1913. "Auto polo, Coney Island.“
George Grantham Bain Collection.

18. April 1906. San
Francisco after the
earthquake and fire.
"Sutter Street up from
Grant Avenue." 8x10
inch glass negative,
Detroit Publishing.

19. New York circa 1903. "Remember
the poor: a Salvation Army
Christmas box."

20. Chicago circa 1900. "A walk in Lincoln Park."

21. December 1910. "Shorpy
Higginbotham, an oiler on the
tipple at Bessie Mine" -- near
Birmingham in Jefferson
County, Alabama. Photograph
by Lewis Wickes Hine.

22. Circa 1904. "City Hall,
Syracuse, New York."
An electric welcome to
the Salt City. 8x10
inch dry plate glass
negative, Detroit
Publishing Company.

23. Laurel, Maryland. July 31, 1922. "Two
B&O freights wrecked in head-on
crash at Laurel switch." National Photo
Company glass negative

24. Syracuse, N.Y., circa 1905. "Empire State
Express (New York Central Railroad)
coming thru Washington Street." Detroit
Publishing Company.

25. "1904. Erie Canal at Salina Street,
Syracuse, New York." Detroit Publishing
Company glass negative, Library of
Congress.

26. Vicksburg, Mississippi, circa 1910.
"Unloading cotton at the levee."
Sternwheel packet boat

27. Washington, D.C., 1922. "J.C.L. Ritter -- Polli
Food Products truck." National Photo
Company Collection glass negative.

28. Florida circa 1905. "Oliver W., the famous
trotting ostrich, Florida Ostrich Farm,
Jacksonville." 8x10 inch glass negative,
Detroit Publishing

29. Iowa – 1943 Women working in the railroad yard during WWll

30. East meets West –
Connecting the Railroad
across the U.S.
Promontory Utah 1869

32. New Jersey circa 1900. "Bergen
Tunnel, east end." The Detroit
Detroit Publishing Company on the tracks.
Photographic Special
Photo Train –Minnesota 1905

33. Photochrom Postcard of Mulberry Street in New York City
Ca 1900, by the Detroit Photographic Co.

37. New York Banana Docks 1905
Unloading Bananas
New Your 1905

38. The Detroit Photographic Company was founded in the 1890s by Detroit
businessman and publisher William A. Livingstone, Jr., and photographer
and photo-publisher Edwin H. Husher. The company had the exclusive
rights to the photochrom process for the American market. Photochrom is
a technique which allows the color enhancement of black-and white
photography with the means of chromolithography.
The company specialized on postcards of American and European
subjects, including cityscapes, reproductions of artwork, natural
landmarks and folklore.
The company went out of business in 1924
Most of the existing negatives and prints are now housed by the United
States Library of Congress.
A large collection of photographic and photomechanical prints are also
housed by the Beinecke library at Yale University The Archives and
Special Collections at Amherst College holds a collection of photochrom
images of American landmarks from 1898 to 1908 – The next slide is an
example of the Detroit photographic Co. Chromolithography allowed the
company to mass-produce photorealistic color motifs long before color
photography became economically feasible

39. Last Slide
Pictures Library
of U.S. Congress
Jack Cross
jcross002@comcast.com