Photographs present what Coney Island seemed like 100 years in the past

• New York Metropolis’s Coney Island turned vastly fashionable on the flip of the twentieth century.
• Its seashore, amusement parks, and annual occasions all contribute to its longstanding recognition.
• Here is what the enduring vacationer attraction seemed like 100 years in the past.

Within the late nineteenth century, Coney Island started its speedy improvement into what’s now an iconic vacationer vacation spot in New York Metropolis. By 1868 — only a few years after the top of the Civil Conflict — a guidebook listed Coney Island because the “greatest seashore on the Atlantic coast,” and the favored waterfront introduced in as much as 30,000 guests each weekend.

By the flip of the twentieth century, Coney Island reached its peak in recognition. Guests flocked to each Coney Island’s seashores and newly constructed amusement parks, which “provided magical wonders for folks of each socio-economic class to take pleasure in,” in response to Seton Corridor College’s Historical past of New York.

Immediately, the vacation spot attracts 5 million guests yearly, and it’s fashionable amongst New Yorkers and out-of-towners alike. Annual occasions like Nathan’s Scorching Canine Consuming Contest and the Mermaid Parade preserve folks coming again for extra. 

Here is what Coney Island seemed like 100 years in the past, within the early 1900s.