Southwest Washington, DC
In the early twentieth century, the southwest side of Washington, DC featured a distinctive form of housing dating back as far as the Civil War: alley dwellings, many occupied by African Americans and immigrant Jews.
Playlist Chicago Hot Dog
Chicago Hot Dog
Levittown, New York
Levittown, New York
After World War II, ten million veterans came home to a massive housing shortage. Many of them were marrying and starting families.
Greenbelt, Maryland
Greenbelt, Maryland
In the late nineteenth century, America's cities were expanding rapidly, and they didn't always handle the challenges of rapid growth well. Places such as New York, Boston, and Chicago became increasingly dense, dirty, and even dangerous.
Pullman, Illinois
Pullman, Illinois
In the 1870s, widespread railway strikes, inspired by workers' wage cuts, brought commerce across the U.S. to a standstill. This led to violent conflicts between police and workers, requiring military intervention to restore order in several cities.
Riverside, Illinois
Riverside, Illinois
In 1869, Chicago was becoming an increasingly crowded and dirty place. A group of businessmen saw an opportunity to provide people of means with an alternative to the muddy streets and squalor of the city.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the Mormon Church, did not know precisely where the City of Zion would be built. But he knew exactly what it would look like.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
In his native England, William Penn had been persecuted, then jailed in the Tower of London, for his Quaker beliefs. So when he came to America and established the province of Pennsylvania, he promised all settlers that they would have a voice in government, the right of trial by jury, and the right to pursue one's own religious views - freedoms that became the foundation of the U.S. Constitution.
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
In 1565-more than 40 years before the British colonized Jamestown, Virginia - a Spanish expedition established what is today the oldest colonial settlement in North America.
The High Line
The High Line
In the late 1990s, an out-of-use railroad trestle, nestled between buildings on Manhattan's Lower West Side, sat decaying. The elevated tracks of the defunct High Line were home to weeds and illicit activities. Building owners and most residents wanted it torn down.
Gas Works Park
Gas Works Park
For the first half of the twentieth century, the Seattle Lighting Company ran a coal gasification plant - a gritty, toxic-waste-generating operation - on a promontory on the north shore of Lake Union.
Freeway Park
Freeway Park
Interstate 5 runs along the entire West Coast of the United States, connecting American cities from Mexico to Canada. When Interstate 5 came through Seattle in the 1960s, it may have connected Seattle to far-flung places, but it divided the city right down the middle, separating downtown from neighborhoods to the east and changing the character of the areas adjacent to the roadway. To put it plainly, the new highway was loud. It was big. And it was ugly.
Overton Park
Overton Park
In the heart of Memphis, Overton Park's 342 acres are home to the city's zoo, a fine arts museum, formal gardens, a golf course, band shell, and a 184-acre natural wooded area. It's easy to see why Memphians would treasure this green space - and to believe that they would fight for it if it were ever threatened.
San Antonio River Walk
San Antonio River Walk
In 1921, heavy rains caused the San Antonio River to flood downtown San Antonio. It wasn't the first time, but this flood was especially tragic. More than 50 people were killed, and nine feet of water inundated businesses. The city had to act.
Chicago's Neighborhood Parks
Chicago's Neighborhood Parks
When J. Frank Foster took the job of superintendent of Chicago’s South Park System in 1891, the ideal of a city park was New York’s Central Park, which had created a nationwide trend of large landscapes.
Central Park
Central Park
If you have ever viewed New York City’s Central Park as a swath of nature preserved in the middle of Manhattan, consider this: the park’s “natural” environment–nearly every inch of it–is a carefully manufactured landscape. And far from being preserved, the park was sculpted out of former swamps, rocky ridges, and even pig farms.
