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The population of Los Angeles today is around 4,000,000. The population in 1880, according to this census, was just 11,311. There wasn’t a figment in anyone’s imagination at the time that the city would become the entertainment capital of the world.

 

The Livermore Fire Department, in Livermore, California, is home to the “Centennial Bulb”. Installed in 1901, the bulb has only been turned off a handful of times since then. As turning lights on and off reduces the life of a bulb, the fire department no longer turns off the light. The “Centennial Bulb” is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the longest lasting light bulb. The fire department has installed a “bulb cam”, focused on the bulb 24/7 for any visitors to view on their website here.

        

 

A list of reasons why women were admitted to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia over a 25-year period of the 19th century. These reasons were logged into the asylum’s admission books.

 

An 1898 cabinet card containing an image of that year’s solar eclipse.

 

In the early 1900s, The Ladies’ Home Journal held annual competitions for “The Prettiest Children in America”. Spreads of children would appear in three issues in succession each year. The 2-page spread below is from 1904 and features 38 children, whose parents had submitted their photos for the competition. In all, 112 children would appear over the three spreads. The four larger images in the spread below were voted on by journalists of the publication as the prettiest children of these 38. In total, there would have been 12 larger images over the three spreads (four prettiest children per spread). Artists for the publication would then paint portraits of the 12 prettiest children selected, using these photos. The painted portraits would then be presented to those children’s parents.

 

This 1841 Farmer’s Almanac contains an 1840 census, complete with the number of slaves within each state at that time. It is sometimes mistaken that only the South had slaves. Here is proof the North had them too.

 

This image from the April 11, 1903 publication of Collier’s Weekly depicts what Manhattan may look like one hundred years later in 2003.
The caption reads, “The picture represents the lower end of Manhattan Island as it may appear at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In the foreground is Governor’s Island, no longer used as a military post, but laid out as a park, and embellished with municipal and government buildings. Great bridges connect the island park with Brooklyn and Manhattan. Where was formerly the City Hall Park in New York, there has been erected a flying-machine landing stage, from which an airship is just starting on its six-hour flight to Chicago. Another airship may be seen making for the stage, where is passengers from Europe will disembark.”

Regarding the concept of “airships”, this illustration appeared months before the Wright brothers made their historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903.

 

An 1884 poem on the stages of life.

 

We’ve all heard of the supposed 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico. Whether you believe the crash occurred or not, and whether you are a believer or skeptic to the idea of otherworldly life, there is no denying the incident is still a hot debate among many today.

The Roswell incident was not the first of its kind to be reported in the United States. The first report of a supposed UFO crash occurred on April 17, 1897 in Aurora, Texas.

The article and artist rendition of the crash below are from the Dallas Morning News, dated April 19, 1897.

Later reports of this crash would state that although the deceased pilot of the craft did not appear to be human according to witnesses, a Christian burial was given for said pilot.

 

An 1885 list of popular names for both genders. Many of these names are no longer used. Did your name make the list?

 

Los Angeles Police Bicycle Squad on parade (May 24, 1904)

 

On January 28, 1887, a snowstorm hit Fort Keogh Army Post, in what is now Miles City, Montana. Soldiers and civilians witnessed giant snowflakes coming down, larger than they had ever seen before.  A milkman described them as larger than milk cans. A rancher nearby measured one of the snowflakes and found it to be 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.

Newspapers throughout the United States reported on this strange weather phenomenon, which scientists now believe to be the result of crystallization, multiple snowflakes sticking together as they fall. Despite lack of photographic evidence, the giant snowflakes that fell on this day 136 years ago, or at least the one that was measured, remains in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest snowflake measured in the world.

The newspaper article below is from Livingston Enterprise, a Livingston, Montana publication dated February 5, 1887.