It’s always incredible to see photos that were taken a century ago. You can see how different life was back then and get a sense of how much simpler things must have been before technology really took over society. The following are 14 antique photographs from the 1920s in Illinois that will give you a sense of what life was once like in the Prairie State.
- Riverside Road, Riverside (1920s)
docmoreau/Flickr Snow blanketing Riverside Road in the village of Riverside looks so pretty in this old black and white photograph.
- Rialto Theatre, Aurora (1920)
CharmaineZoe’s Marvelous Melange/Flickr Pictured here is the foyer of the Rialto Theatre which was built the previous year in 1919. This theatre could hold 2,250 patrons and even had a bowling alley in the basement. Sadly, the Rialto burned down in 1928 and the Paramount Theatre was eventually built in its place.
- Downtown Chicago (late 1920s)
WBEZ/Flickr Here is an aerial view of the Illinois Central Railroad train yard and Monroe Harbor. Things certainly looked a bit different back then.
- Amelia Earhart at Hyde Park High School, Chicago (1928)
Smithsonian Open Access Six months after Amelia Earhart’s Friendship flight, she was invited to speak at the high school she had attended. This was late 1928 at Hyde Park High School where she was greeted by the mayor and a crowd of admirers.
- Fort Sheridan (1921)
Old Guard History/Flickr In 1921, the 3rd U.S. Infantry was making its way to Fort Snelling, Minnesota on foot. The long hike had started in Camp Sherman, Ohio. Here you see one of the soldiers getting a shave outside in the snow.
- Canton (1924)
Brian Crawford/Flickr Here is a family photo taken next to a car in Canton. It’s fascinating to see how people dressed nearly a century ago.
- Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago (1923)
Unattributed/Wikimedia Commons The studios of radio station WBAZ were located in glass-encased rooms at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. Here, audiences would come to enjoy the radio station’s live performances.
- Portable radio station, Chicago (1924)
Uncredited publicity photograph distributed by the Zenith Radio Corporation/Wikimedia Commons This truck is carrying a portable radio station for WJAZ. It was used by Zenith Radio Corporation to test sites around the city for the eventual placement of a permanent radio transmitter for the station.
- Lake Michigan Beach, Chicago (1925)
U.S. Government/Wikimedia Commons A huge crowd of bathers gathers to cool off on a hot summer’s day at Lake Michigan Beach.
- Alton (1925)
Unknown author or not provided/Wikimedia Commons Trains were the main mode of transportation back in the day. Here you can see the Alton railroad station, train tracks, water tank, electric trolley car, and baggage carts.
- U.S. Route 51, between Mounda and Cairo (1927)
Archival Photography by Steve Nicklas, NOS, NGS/Wikimedia Commons During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the roadway between Mounds and Cairo, Illinois flooded.
- Mrs. Snyder’s Candy Shop, Chicago (1927)
Unknown author or not provided/Wikimedia Commons Here you see women shoppers at Mrs. Snyder’s Candy Shop, located on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, in 1927. This chocolate and candy business was first started by Mrs. Ora Snyder in her kitchen and gained so much popularity over the years that, by the time she passed away in 1948, she had owned 16 candy shops.
- Lowell Park, Dixon (1927)
Unknown author or not provided/Wikimedia Commons Here is a photo of future president Ronald Reagan as a lifeguard at Lowell Park in Dixon, the town where he grew up.
- Fox River, Elgin (1920)
Unknown author/Wikimedia Commons Here is the aftermath of a tornado that ripped through Elgin along the Fox River in 1920.
Life was certainly a lot different back in the 1920s. Do you have any old photographs from this era that you would like to share with fellow readers? Please post them in the comments. You can also view additional antique photographs in this post.
docmoreau/Flickr
Snow blanketing Riverside Road in the village of Riverside looks so pretty in this old black and white photograph.
CharmaineZoe’s Marvelous Melange/Flickr
Pictured here is the foyer of the Rialto Theatre which was built the previous year in 1919. This theatre could hold 2,250 patrons and even had a bowling alley in the basement. Sadly, the Rialto burned down in 1928 and the Paramount Theatre was eventually built in its place.
WBEZ/Flickr
Here is an aerial view of the Illinois Central Railroad train yard and Monroe Harbor. Things certainly looked a bit different back then.
Smithsonian Open Access
Six months after Amelia Earhart’s Friendship flight, she was invited to speak at the high school she had attended. This was late 1928 at Hyde Park High School where she was greeted by the mayor and a crowd of admirers.
Old Guard History/Flickr
In 1921, the 3rd U.S. Infantry was making its way to Fort Snelling, Minnesota on foot. The long hike had started in Camp Sherman, Ohio. Here you see one of the soldiers getting a shave outside in the snow.
Brian Crawford/Flickr
Here is a family photo taken next to a car in Canton. It’s fascinating to see how people dressed nearly a century ago.
Unattributed/Wikimedia Commons
The studios of radio station WBAZ were located in glass-encased rooms at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. Here, audiences would come to enjoy the radio station’s live performances.
Uncredited publicity photograph distributed by the Zenith Radio Corporation/Wikimedia Commons
This truck is carrying a portable radio station for WJAZ. It was used by Zenith Radio Corporation to test sites around the city for the eventual placement of a permanent radio transmitter for the station.
U.S. Government/Wikimedia Commons
A huge crowd of bathers gathers to cool off on a hot summer’s day at Lake Michigan Beach.
Unknown author or not provided/Wikimedia Commons
Trains were the main mode of transportation back in the day. Here you can see the Alton railroad station, train tracks, water tank, electric trolley car, and baggage carts.
Archival Photography by Steve Nicklas, NOS, NGS/Wikimedia Commons
During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the roadway between Mounds and Cairo, Illinois flooded.
Here you see women shoppers at Mrs. Snyder’s Candy Shop, located on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, in 1927. This chocolate and candy business was first started by Mrs. Ora Snyder in her kitchen and gained so much popularity over the years that, by the time she passed away in 1948, she had owned 16 candy shops.
Here is a photo of future president Ronald Reagan as a lifeguard at Lowell Park in Dixon, the town where he grew up.
Unknown author/Wikimedia Commons
Here is the aftermath of a tornado that ripped through Elgin along the Fox River in 1920.
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