33 Then And Now Photos In Pennsylvania That Show Just How Much It Has Changed
It’s always fun to flip through old photos – especially those from Pennsylvania because we have so many good ones – but it’s even cooler when you can compare them with modern shots to look at how much the world has changed.
We found some excellent vintage photos that we think show off the evolution of our state, and we’ve included their current counterparts for perspective. Some of them leave us a little nostalgic, others reflect the “small stuff” that can get lost in our BIG history, but most of them make us very grateful to live in the modern era.
Here are 33 of our favorite “then-and-now” flashback photos that make us appreciate Pennsylvania throughout the decades (and centuries!).
Benjamin Franklin helped to establish the first fire department in Philadelphia, Union Fire Company (also called Benjamin Franklin's Bucket Brigade), in 1736.
The Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, built in 1961, was the world's first major retractable roof stadium (the name was changed to Mellon Arena in 1999). The Mellon Arena was home to the Pittsburgh Penguins between 1967 and 2010. The arena was demolished in 2011.
2010: The Consol Energy Center became the new home of the Penguins in 2010. This photo, taken by David Fulmer before the old Mellon Arena was demolished, shows the reflection of the former venue in its glass windows.
2013: An abandoned tunnel of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A 13-mile stretch of the highway was bypassed in 1968 due to the traffic jams created by the narrow tunnels.
2009: Amity Hall Inn before it was burned to the ground by arsonists. The Inn was built in the 1800s and closed in the 1980s, and was the subject of many local ghost stories.
Trick photo: Pennsylvania pretzels (of any variety) never change...they are always delicious!
There are hundreds of other photos we wanted to include, but if we did, this list would never end! Do you remember these places “back in the day”? Are there others you think deserve recognition? Tell us about them in the comments!
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Meg Archer is a Portland, Oregon-based Editor & Social Media Manager with degrees in English/Creative Writing from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and Social Psychology from Portland State University. She has held positions in writing, editing, and media-related fields for over 10 years, including serving as the Editor-in-Chief for Cal Poly’s literary journal Byzantium and copywriting for advertising/marketing agencies before joining Only In You State team in 2015. When she’s not writing or out exploring the West Coast, Meg enjoys working on visual media projects, speaking as a mental health advocate, and can always be found in the front row at Portland Timbers matches.
