American Panoramas

In 1907 photographers from the Detroit Publishing Company climbed to the top of the Minneapolis town hall and took a series of photographs of the city. The Detroit Publishing Company made money from selling postcards and panoramas of American locations. These images now provide a fascinating insight into early Twentieth Century America.

The Star Tribune has created an interactive panoramic image of Minneapolis created from the photos taken by the Detroit Publishing Company's photographers from the top of city hall. Take a Photo Tour of Minneapolis in 1907 allows you to zoom in and out and pan around this historic panoramic image as if it was an interactive map. The panorama even includes a number of map markers which provide information on different locations around the city. These are categorized into 'reader picks' and 'staff picks'.

Over 25,000 of the Detroit Publishing Company's photographs of early Twentieth Century America can be viewed on the Library of Congress website. The collection includes a number of grouped photographs which can be stitched together to create panoramic images. Here is a panorama I stitched together from six photographs of Detroit taken by the Detroit Publishing Company around 1908:

This panorama I stitched together from four photographs of Baltimore from Federal Hill, taken around 1906:

This panorama was created from four photos of Indianapolis, dated around 1907:

Here is another panorama which I stitched together from six photographs of Charleston, S.C. taken between 1900-1915:

This panorama was created from four photos from the Heart of Pittsburgh, dated 1900-1910: