Franciscan monk Fr. Junipero Serra, founder of the Spanish mission system in California, raised a cross on the beach on March 31, 1782, at a spot that became a general wayfarer's midpoint between Los Angeles and Point Conception. This was the dedication of Mission San Buenaventura. Bordered by rivers out of the foothills, this coastal area had originally been home to many Chumash Indian villages, dating back to 1000 A.D. The small mission outpost...

The streets of Boston's North End, some laid out in the seventeenth century, exude a rich history built by every generation of Boston immigrants since 1630. Home to the Paul Revere House and the famous Old North Church, the North End appeals to locals as well as visitors with its bustling Haymarket and restaurant row.

When the United States entered the 1960s, the nation was swept up in the Space Race as the United States and the Soviet Union competed for supremacy in rocket and satellite technologies. Cities across the country hoped to attract new aerospace companies, but the city leaders of Seattle launched the most ambitious campaign of all. They invited the whole world to visit for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, and more than nine million people took them up...

Join the author in reliving Sylvania's over 180 years of history from footpaths to expressways, and beyond, in volume four of an eight-volume set. With 30 years of research, she has included every subject imaginable that helped bring Sylvania to where they are today, with excellent schools, over-the-top parks, and recreation, rich beautiful homes, commercial, and industrial businesses, and a quaint historical downtown that looks like it was planned...

L. Bradford Prince was one of seven territorial governors who attended the January 15th inauguration of New Mexico's first state governor, William C. McDonald, in New Mexico's long-awaited statehood year, 1912. Within a year of that auspicious occasion, Prince published "A Concise History of New Mexico," a condensation and revision of his "Historical Sketches" of 1883. His purpose in 1913 was to provide a "little volume" that might be of use in the...

Through its many incarnations, Alameda has never lost its charm and ability to draw people from all walks of life. Originally a peninsula inhabited by Native Americans, it was purchased by Don Luis Peralta in 1818 and developed into a bedroom community of San Francisco. Alameda became an island in 1902, and a short time later, it was a new home to many refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The Neptune Beach amusement park attracted...

La Jolla, California, famously known as "The Jewel," is noted for its natural beauty and appealing Mediterranean-like climate. Magnificent sea cliffs and caves, bathing coves, and sandy beaches have attracted visitors, developers, and residents since the 1880s. By the early 1900s, a small community developed with artists congregating to the internationally known Green Dragon Colony. Newspaper heiress Ellen Browning Scripps and her half-sister Eliza...

Images of America: Bristol celebrates the history of the town known as "A Good Place to Live." Joseph A. Anderson bought land on the Virginia-Tennessee border from his father-in-law, Rev. James King, and founded Bristol in 1852. Just four years later, the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad came to Bristol, and the town became a major trading center of the Appalachian region. During the Civil War, Bristol was a vital railway link between the North and...

In 1824, the completion of the Schuylkill Canal gave birth to Spring City, and the opening of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in Royersford soon followed. Over the years, the "twin boroughs" grew simultaneously, sharing the community and industrial developments that their respective transportation hubs fostered. Spring City and Royersford, through more than two hundred vintage postcards, shares the history of these sister towns: the stove factories,...

The Evansville area was settled in 1839 and the village platted in 1855 on the hopes that the railroad would come through. It was named for Evansville's first physician, Dr. John M. Evans. When the railroad arrived in 1863, Evansville's prosperity was assured. There were many opportunities for growth in agriculture, manufacturing, and commerce. The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad offered passenger and freight service to major markets in Chicago...