What 6 Major State Capitals Looked Like 100 Years Ago
One hundred years is a long time in the life of a city. New technologies emerge and wane, people come and go, cultural factors ebb and flow. But not all cities change at the same rate; some stay comparatively similar to their older incarnations, while others become drastically different. Here’s a glimpse at what a few iconic state capitals looked like a century ago.
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta was named after the Western and Atlantic Railroad, for which it was a terminus. In the early 20th century, the city was well established as a major railway hub, and the downtown was built around its first train station. Hotels were concentrated in an area near the station (called, fittingly, Hotel Row) in order to serve train travelers, and by the 1920s, masonry high-rises created the city’s skyline.
Like many cities during this period, Atlanta was beginning to expand its roads in order to accommodate increasing numbers of cars. In the 1920s, the city built three major viaducts to allow traffic to bypass the high number of railroad crossings. The Central Avenue, Pryor Street, and Spring Street (later renamed Ted Turner Drive) viaducts not only improved vehicle safety, but also led to development outside the city’s downtown core.
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Boston, Massachusetts
Though Boston was established as a colonial port city as early as 1630, a wave of immigration between 1880 and 1921 fueled a population boom and a sense of transition similar to what many younger cities were facing at the time. An expanding population created a need for a building boom, and changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution were at the forefront. The industrialization of nearby Springfield, Massachusetts led to a high population of mechanics and engineers in that city, and it became a hub for the nascent automotive industry. Rolls-Royce selected Springfield as the site of its U.S. factory, and many other early auto manufacturers were based in the area. In fact, Massachusetts claimed to have manufactured more cars at the beginning of the 20th century than Detroit, Michigan. Cars were particularly popular in Boston — more so than in many other cities — and 1 in 8 Bostonians were car owners by 1913. This led to the construction of a large number of buildings dedicated to automobiles, including garages, repair shops, car dealers, and more.
In terms of architecture, the city’s affluent Beacon Hill neighborhood appears very similar today to how it looked in the 1920s, with well-preserved colonial-style and Victorian buildings. However, little remains of Boston’s once-abundant theater district, which reached a peak count of 40 theaters by 1935.
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville has a storied history as a center of American popular music, but that history was in its very infancy 100 years ago. The famous Grand Ole Opry didn’t begin until the middle of the 1920s, first broadcasting as “the WSM Barn Dance,” and at the time, it was hardly the institution it would become later. In those days, it was purely a radio show broadcast out of the WSM studio on the fifth floor of the National Life and Accident Insurance building, with only as many spectators as could fit in the limited confines of the station’s Studio A.
Unlike other major capitals, Nashville wasn’t a city of high-rises — the 12-story Stahlman Building was the tallest building from the time of its completion in 1908 until the L&C Tower was built in the 1950s — and much of the low-rise brick and masonry buildings from the last century are preserved today. This is particularly true along the First Avenue front of the Cumberland River, and along Second Avenue, formerly known as Market Street.
Austin, Texas
Though Austin’s population began steadily growing around the end of the 19th century, in 1920 it was only the 10th-largest city in Texas, with a population just under 35,000. Its visual focal point was the Texas State Capitol Building (the UT Tower didn't exist yet), and the surrounding downtown consisted of low- and mid-rise buildings with brick or stone facades — an aesthetic that was more “Main Street” than “metropolis.” Cars weren’t quite as dominant in Austin as in larger cities of the time, and horse-drawn carriages were still seen on the streets.
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is another city that had a relatively small population in 1920 — just around 29,000 — but it was still the largest city in a state that had existed for only eight years. Because of this, Phoenix had the flashiness and bustle of an up-and-coming city, despite its small size. The city’s first skyscraper, the Heard Building, was even the site of a stunt climbing performance shortly after it was built. Nonetheless, the Heard Building’s height of seven stories might not pass for consideration as a skyscraper in larger cities. The 10-story Luhrs Building surpassed it in height when it opened in 1924, and the 16-story Hotel Westward Ho became the city’s tallest building in 1928. It held that title for more than 30 years, as the vast availability of land surrounding Phoenix disincentivized vertical construction, in favor of outward land expansion.
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is often overshadowed by other iconic California cities, but 100 years ago it boasted a downtown of ornate classical architecture, was home to the largest manufacturing train yard in the western United States, and served as a major retail hub for the region. Vital downtown structures of the time — such as Sacramento City Hall, Memorial Auditorium, the California State Life Building, and the Federal Building — were all built during a construction boom that occurred between 1912 and 1932. But there isn’t much evidence of this architectural period today, as even some surviving buildings, such as Odd Fellows Hall, have been remodeled with simpler midcentury-style facades.
