A history of Syracuse,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Syracuse from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Syracuse began its existence as a stop on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The site was originally called Holidayburg or Holliday in honor of Cyrus K. Holliday, first President of the ATSF railway. In 1873 a group of settlers from Syracuse, New York arrived and the site was renamed to Syracuse. In 1886, Syracuse was recognized as the county seat of Hamilton County. Syracuse secured its place in American history on April 5, 1887 by electing an all-woman city council, the first in the nation. The council consisted of Mrs. N. E. Wheeler (mayor), Caroline Johnson Barber, Mrs. W. A. Swartwood, Mrs. S. P. Nott, Mrs. Charles Coe, and Mrs. G. C. Riggles.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Syracuse’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewThe Sequoyah, New Hotel, Syracuse…, 1898: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Syracuse
See all 2 →
Syracuse, decade by decade
1920s
1990s
1 historic place in Syracuse
1 place in Syracuse is on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as The Sequoyah, New Hotel, Syracuse, Kans (1898) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (4) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.