Gund, America's oldest and most recognized stuffed-toy manufacturer, has produced millions of quality toys for more than one hundred years. Since Adolf Gund launched the company in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1898, Gund has prided itself on its founding values of quality, workmanship, and "huggability." The photographs in Gund document significant events in the company's history, including prestigious awards, lovable products, and important people. Gund...

Nestled at the foot of East River Mountain in the southern tip of West Virginia, Bluefield calls itself "Nature's Air-Conditioned City" and is a place of great cultural, industrial, and natural wealth. The early to mid-1900s were a booming time for the city, thanks to coal mining and the Norfolk and Western Railway. For the many people who lived in or traveled through the region during that era, postcards provided a simple and convenient way to send...

Much more than the typical vacation destination, Key West combines a free-spirited ambiance with magnificent coral reefs, a unique historic legacy with an enduring artistic sensibility. For centuries, explorers and adventurers, immigrants and entrepreneurs, artists and wanderers have come to the island oasis, and today Key West, a city like no other, is home to them all. Through hurricanes, fires, labor strikes, and the tourism boom, the community...

Located along the Tar River in the eastern half of North Carolina, Greenville exists today as a thriving center of commerce, education, medicine, the arts, and quality living. Since its earliest days in the 1770s, the city has expanded in size and population with the arrival of the railroad, the popularity of tobacco, and the rise in education. Age covers a city with a patina of experience that is apparent in many aspects of Greenville. Such beauty...

Nearly five centuries have passed since Ponce de Leon claimed for the king of Spain the area that now contains Ocala, the seat of Marion County in North Central Florida. Located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, Ocala was incorporated in 1885, when it was home to just 803 inhabitants, and has grown steadily since that time. At the turn of the twentieth century, the city covered four square miles and had a population of 3,380,...

What is paradise? Before 1969, land that would eventually become the City of Palm Coast was considered by some as nothing more than a "big pine-covered swamp." But when the corporate eyes of ITT/Levitt and Sons looked upon the virtually uninhabited land, they saw 22,000 acres of golf courses, marinas, oceanfront motels, scenic drives, and house lots awaiting the arrival of sun-seeking "pioneers." Marketing strategies targeting urban residents in the...

Boynton Beach, located on South Florida's Atlantic coast, is known as the "Gateway to the Gulf Stream." Ernest Hemingway once called these great ocean currents the last wild country left. Fishermen who study navigational charts understand that Boynton Beach is unique as the closest community to the Gulf Stream. Just minutes from the Boynton Inlet, water reaches a depth of 800 feet. Maj. Nathan Boynton came to the area in 1894, built a hotel, and envisioned...

Native Americans first inhabited the eastern Forsyth County area, a natural watershed and source of six rivers and creeks. About 1756, Irishman Caleb Story settled here on 400 acres of wooded land. Years later, Story sold his land to David Morrow for a purported four gallons of rum. About 1771, William Dobson purchased the original acreage and additional tracts and built an inn near what is now Mountain Street and Main Street. He named this junction...

Native Americans used Okwata, meaning "wide water," as a shortcut for inland trade between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. When the Europeans arrived, the original inhabitants showed them the route--the settlement near the river became the city of New Orleans, other lakeshore communities grew, and Lake Pontchartrain continued to be a vital waterway well into the 20th century. Aside from its economic value, Lake Pontchartrain was a cultural...

In 1984, the city of New Orleans hosted the last world's fair held in the United States. Conceived as part of an ambitious effort to revitalize a dilapidated section of the city and establish New Orleans as a year-round tourist destination, it took more than 12 years of political intrigue and design changes before the gates finally opened. Stretching 84 acres along the Mississippi River, the fair entertained more than seven million guests with a colorful...