Your Favorite American Cities, Then and Now

America is a young country, but that doesn’t mean it lacks history. In the last 100 years alone, so much has changed. Cities have grown much larger, taller and more robust, evolving into thriving cultural centers welcoming millions of visitors each year.

We’ve pulled together “then and now” photos of some of the biggest and most popular cities in the United States, so you can see just how far we’ve come. With “then” images showcasing life around the 1920s compared to modern day, see for yourself how much we have grown – and yet, how much we remain the same.

Gifted to the city by Peter Faneuil in 1742, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market served as a lively hub for Boston, with Quincy Market housing daily selections from fishermen, farmers and merchants.

Faneuil Hall itself became a public meeting house, where some of Boston’s most notable orators, such as Revolutionary hero Samuel Adams, gave moving speeches and debates.

One of the oldest remaining shopping centers in the United States, Quincy Market has remained largely unchanged, save for its shopping and dining options. The pedestrian streets are cobbled, and shops have been built into the former buildings from the 1700s.

Faneuil Hall is a main stop along Boston’s Freedom Trail, and nearby, you can enjoy clam chowder at the oldest restaurant in Boston, the Union Oyster House, which dates back to 1714.

Having suffered the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, 3.3 square miles of Chicago was destroyed and more than 100,000 people were left homeless. By the 1920s, the city had rebuilt itself but became notorious for another reason: organized crime.

Chicago gangsters, specifically Al Capone between 1920 and 1925, earned Chicago the nickname as the “wettest spot in the U.S.” during Prohibition. Corruption was so rampant in the city that when gangster – and Capone’s mentor – Big Jim Colosimo was killed in 1920, three judges, eight aldermen and a congressman served as pallbearers.

One of the beneficiaries of regrowth after Chicago’s Great Fire was the city’s architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright lived and worked in Chicago, creating residential homes and business buildings, while skyscrapers led the Middle American capital to great heights.

The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Building) was once the tallest building in the country at 1,451 feet in height – until the new One World Trade Center opened recently in New York. Architecture tours, including boat tours along the Chicago River, showcase other impressive structures, such as the Tribune Tower, Lake Point Tower, 35 E. Wacker and the Chicago Water Tower.