Lynn in the Victorian Era (Images of America: Massachusetts)

The Victorian Era was a period of rapid industrialization and technological advancement for Lynn. A rise in manufactured goods, increased commercialism, and the building of a large labor force transformed the city at an unprecedented rate. Taken mainly from a newly acquired collection of glass-plate negatives, Lynn in the Victorian Era provides a unique snapshot of the city, frozen at one moment in time. The images in this collection were taken as Lynn celebrated its 250th anniversary in 1879. It was a time when Lynn was just entering into the period of its greatest economic prosperity and physical growth. Immigrants were flocking to the city, drawn by the shoe factories that soon took their place at the very forefront of the industry. Lynn in the Victorian Era holds images of a city that is unquestioningly embracing its industrial future. It is a view of the city at once oddly foreign and hauntingly familiar. It is also a very fleeting picture; many of the scenes depicted in these remarkable photographs fell to the first Great Lynn Fire in 1889.