Rare Historical Photos And The Story Behind Them 

By | July 9, 2018

A man standing on the first cables during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, with the Presidio and San Francisco in the background (1935).

A blast from the past! Since time machines have not yet been invented, our only way to peer back in time, at people and events in the distant past and the not-so-distant past, is to look at photographs that were taken at the time. We hope this gallery of photographs help you to reminisce, help you learn something new, and help you draw connections between our past and our present. 

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Source: Reddit

It took some guts to work on the construction of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. In the 1930s, there was an unwritten rule regarding high-steel bridge construction projects like this one…for every $1 million in cost, the engineers should expect one fatality among the workers. But the $35 million Gold Gate Bridge had an impressive safety record with only 11 deaths. A huge net suspended under the work site is credited with saving at least 19 people. Those 11 construction worker deaths are overshadowed by the more than 1,500 people who have thrown themselves off the bridge, making it the top suicide bridge in the world. 

Annie Edson Taylor was an American schoolteacher who became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel on her birthday, October 24, 1901.

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Source: Reddit

Annie Edson Taylor had hoped to become rich with a unique publicity stunt. She planned to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She has a barrel custom built for her that was water tight and padded. She even sent the barrel over the falls with a cat in it as a trial run and, to her delight and the cat’s, the feline survived the plunge. So on October 24, 1901, the 63-year old former teacher climbed in the barrel and had her friends secure the lid. She was left adrift just above the falls where the current would pull her over. An awaiting boat pulled her out immediately after she went over the falls and the battered and terrified woman was found to be alive and uninjured.