Take a trip back in time to see historic images of some of the USA’s most popular tourist attractions from the 1900s until the 1990s. Some are long gone while others are still popular today.

The site of several amusement parks since the late 19th century, Coney Island has long been a hot spot for pleasure-seeking New Yorkers. Luna Park was one of many that sprung up here, opening in 1903, and cementing its status as the country’s premier amusement resort. Dreamland opened a year later and in 1916, Nathan Handwerker started selling hot dogs from a stand which went on to become Nathan's Famous hot dog chain. The iconic boardwalk was built in the 1920s.

Los Angeles’ hip neighbourhood Venice Beach was originally a beach resort known as Venice of America, founded by tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney in 1905. Buying two miles of oceanfront land, he created an amusement park, pier, miniature steam train and 16 miles of canals (built to drain the marshland) complete with gondola rides. It was an independent city until 1926 when it merged with Los Angeles. Today its lively promenade is a magnet for tourists.

California’s beloved Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the oldest theme park in the state. It was built by local businessman Fred Swanton in 1907 and offered quintessential seaside fun with turn-of-the-century rides, an indoor saltwater bath house, casino and ballroom. Today the boardwalk is a registered historic landmark, as are two of its still-functioning rides – the 1911 Looff carousel and the Giant Dipper roller coaster which opened in 1924.

Formerly known as Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters there. The junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue has since become one of the most famous commercial squares in the world with its theatres, cinemas and electronic billboards. It’s also the site of the city’s annual New Year's Eve ball drop (pictured here in 1939), a tradition which began when the newspaper held a New Year’s Eve event to celebrate their move.

The 1900s was a decade that saw a surge in the popularity of amusement parks. Lakeside, a small town near Denver, has one of the country’s oldest. Originally called White City, the park opened next to Lake Rhoda in 1908 to a crowd of 50,000 people. It had a swimming beach, casino, theatre, racetrack and public pool as well as traditional fairground rides. Lakeside Amusement Park is still in operation today. Discover US theme parks that didn't go the distance and are now abandoned here.

The first Grand Central Terminal was built in 1871 by shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, but the stunning New York landmark we know today opened to the public in 1913. More than 150,000 people went along to celebrate the opening of the Beaux-Arts-style terminus. In the 1930s, its boom years, Grand Central Terminal became the busiest train station in the country and housed an art gallery, newsreel movie theatre and a rail history museum.

The National Park Service system was established in 1916, more than 40 years after the designation of America's first national park, Yellowstone, whose explosive Old Faithful Geyser is depicted in this retro travel poster. The Californian park was a hugely popular travel attraction, drawing more than 35,000 people to explore it in 1916. Discover 29 things you didn't know you could do in national parks.

Many new national parks were established between 1916 and 1933, including the Grand Canyon National Park in 1919. The natural wonder in Arizona had already become a must-see destination and was declared a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. In its first year as an official national park, some 44,000 visitors came to marvel at the mile-deep canyon. This grew to one million in 1956 and is now at around five million in 2019, the park’s centennial.

One of Chicago’s best-known landmarks, the historic pier opened to the public in 1916 and was known as the Municipal Pier. Stretching out into Lake Michigan, it was used as a dock for freights, passenger traffic, as well as for recreational purposes. It was renamed the Navy Pier in 1927 in tribute to navy personnel who were based there during the First World War. Today the tourist hot spot is home to a 200-foot Ferris wheel, museums, theatres, a cinema and restaurants.

One of the country’s first metropolitan zoos opened after founder, Dr Harry Wegeforth, was inspired by the idea at the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition, which featured wild exotic animals. He founded the San Diego Zoological Society and convinced the city that it needed a zoo. San Diego Zoological Garden officially opened its doors in Balboa Park. One of its first animals was a Kodiak bear called Caesar. It was one of the first zoos to have open grotto enclosures and launched its first research faculty in 1927. Check out our city guide to San Diego. 

This world-renowned amphitheatre opened in the Hollywood Hills neighbourhood in 1922. The first stage was a simple wooden platform with a canvas top and the audience were seated on wooden benches. An arched stage was built in 1926 with its distinctive shell shape first added in 1929. The 55-tonne shell (pictured here in the 1930s) became an architectural icon. The 1930s saw jazz performances here for the first time and it went on to host the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday and The Beatles.

Built in honour of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president, the Neo-classical commemorative monument was opened to the public in 1922. Located at the western end of the National Mall, the structure swiftly became one of the capital’s most famous and imposing sights. It was also the site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 and is an important symbol of the American civil rights movement.

It’s hard to imagine this bustling theme park beginning as a humble fruit stand, but that’s where it all began. The Knott Family arrived in Buena Park in 1920 to farm at Knott’s Berry Place, as it was known. They opened a berry stand followed by a chicken restaurant, which people flocked to from far and wide. In 1940, Walter Knott built a ghost town to entertain the hungry hordes. It was the first themed area of what became known as Knott’s Berry Farm in 1947.

Erected in 1923 as a temporary advertisement for a real estate development, the Hollywood sign is now one of the most famous in the world. It originally read Hollywoodland but the “land” was removed when it was restored in 1949. The landmark, which sits on the southern side of Mount Lee in Griffith Park, officially became a historic monument in the 1970s (pictured here) and the deteriorating structure restored once again in 1978, on the back of a campaign led by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

The hugely influential modern art gallery first opened its doors on 7 November 1929. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was conceived by three progressive and influential art patrons, Miss Lillie P Bliss, Mrs Cornelius J Sullivan and Mrs John D Rockefeller. It was the first institution devoted exclusively to modern art and the first in Manhattan to exhibit European modernism. Over the next 10 years its location moved three times before opening in its current Midtown building in 1939 (pictured).

A beacon of Art Deco design, construction of New York City’s Chrysler Building began in 1928 and was completed in 1930. As the tallest building in the world, the gleaming skyscraper with its distinctive spire, which initially had a public viewing room on its 71st floor, instantly lured sightseers. However, that claim was short-lived as the taller Empire State Building was completed 11 months later, but it's still the tallest brick building in the world.

When the Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrians in 1937, the celebrations lasted for a week. The longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world received more than 200,000 foot passengers on its first day. The architecturally stunning bridge was an instant hit and became a symbol of San Francisco. It was one of America’s top-visited attractions, which it remains today. Here the bridge is pictured in the early 1950s. For more amazing constructions, check out the most impressive bridge in every state.

New York’s iconic 103-story Art-Deco skyscraper was completed in 1931 and was the world’s tallest building up until the 1970s. Today it is one of the city's most-visited and recognised landmarks, starting its on-screen career in the 1933 movie King Kong. However, despite generating great publicity and fanfare at the time of its construction, the Empire State Building remained relatively empty and unvisited until the 1950s. By 1976, its observatory had welcomed its 50 millionth visitor.

Built between 1931 and 1936, during the Great Depression, to tame the Colorado River, the mighty Boulder Dam on the Arizona-Nevada border was the largest in the world. Its reservoir Lake Mead remains the largest in the world. It opened for tours in 1937 and became a popular tourist destination. It was officially renamed the Hoover Dam by the then-president, Herbert Hoover, in 1947. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985 and a new visitor centre was built in 1995.

Manhattan’s legendary venue, Radio City Music Hall, first opened on Sixth Avenue in 1932 as a cornerstone of John D. Rockefeller Jr’s subsequent Rockefeller Center. The Art-Deco theatre was conceived as a “palace for the people”, offering top entertainment at affordable prices. It became a popular spot for film premieres with 700 movies having opened here since 1933, including the original King Kong and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Its Great Stage has also welcomed legendary artists such as Frank Sinatra.

New Hampshire’s Cannon Mountain was the site of the very first aerial tramway in north America, which ushered in ski and summer tourism to area. It was constructed in 1938 after champion downhill skier Alexander Bright returned from a trip to Europe's ski resorts and rallied local investors, lawmakers and contractors to construct their own tramways. It quickly became a major tourist attraction, carrying 163,000 passengers in its first year. It ceased operation in 1980 and a new one was built.

After gambling became legal once again in 1931, Las Vegas started its rise to become the country’s gaming capital. The desert metropolis’ population swelled as workers arrived to work on the Hoover Dam and small casinos and showgirl venues opened on Fremont Street. Pictured here in the mid-1950s, it was the first street in the city to be paved in 1925. The first hotel-casino, El Rancho Vegas, opened on Highway 91 in 1941, with others soon following and the section became known as “the Strip”.

Conceived by historian Doane Robinson as a way to attract more tourism to the state of South Dakota, the mighty Mount Rushmore National Memorial was unveiled to the public in 1941. It worked: the landmark garnered close to half a million visitors in the first year alone. Carved into Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the sculpture features the faces of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

One of Florida’s most unique and long-running attractions, the mermaid show at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park opened in 1947. It was the brainchild of former Navy man, Newton Perry, who built an 18-seat theatre into the limestone below the water’s surface, allowing viewers to look right into the deep. He trained performers to breathe underwater and execute synchronised dance routines. In the 1950s, it was one of the nation’s most popular tourist stops and received worldwide acclaim. The attraction still remains today.

Another of Florida’s earliest and long-running tourist spots, Gatorland was founded by Owen Godwin in 1949. Originally called the Florida Wildlife Institute, Godwin changed the name to the snappier Snake Village and Alligator Farm in the 1950s. The fledgling gift shop and wildlife park became increasingly popular when Bone Crusher arrived. Godwin claimed the 15-foot croc was the world’s largest captive crocodile. The now 110-acre theme park and wildlife preserve is still owned by the family. Check out Florida's transformation from swampland to holiday paradise here.

Walt Disney’s Disneyland (renamed Disneyland Park in the 1990s) opened on 17 July 1955. He originally wanted his theme park to be called Mickey Mouse Park.  On the opening day, 28,000 people visited the theme park which featured its now-famous parades and 20 different attractions including Frontierland, a recreation of the Old West, pictured here in 1955. There was also the Sleeping Beauty Castle which soon became one of the USA's most recognisable tourist attractions. Check out more historic pictures of Disney's parks here.

Skiing became more popular and accessible throughout the 1950s, mostly due to the continued development of recreational skis. Idaho’s Sun Valley, one of America’s earliest ski resorts, thrived throughout the Fifties, welcoming celebrities and members of high society. It was also the site of the world’s first chairlifts, which were invented by Union Pacific Railroad engineer James Curran.

The Guggenheim Museum moved into its permanent home, the innovative Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building, in 1959. Originally founded in 1939 by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to house the businessman and art collector’s pieces, it was renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952. The modern art gallery, located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 89th Street, became one of the most significant architectural icons and cultural spaces of the 20th century.

Seattle’s futuristic landmark, the Space Needle, officially opened to the public on 21 April 1962. It was built as part of the Century 21 Exhibition, a space-age themed World Fair. During the event, more than 20,000 people used the lift to reach its summit each day, drawing more than 2.3 million visitors overall. Approximately 1.3 million people now visit the 600-foot-tall structure each year.

Sat by the banks of the Mississippi River in St Louis, the high and elegant Gateway Arch was completed in 1965. It was part of the Jefferson National Expansion and takes its name from the city’s role as the “Gateway to the West” during the westward expansion of the US in the 19th century. At 630 feet, it’s the tallest monument in the United States and the tallest arch in the world. And it’s arguably the Midwest’s most recognisable landmark.

Originally conceived as an underwater restaurant with a marine show, the first SeaWorld opened in Mission Bay, San Diego in 1964. The 21-acre marine zoological park was founded by four UCLA graduates – George Millay, Milton Shedd, Dave Demotte and Ken Norris – and opened with sea lion and dolphin exhibits. SeaWorld Ohio followed in 1970 and SeaWorld Orlando in 1973. After selling the brand, Millay went on to develop the nation's first major water park, Wet 'n Wild. It opened in Orlando in 1977.

With a growing fascination for NASA’s rocket launches, the public flocked to the Cape Canaveral area to get a glimpse of the launch pads and facilities. In 1963, drive-through tours were permitted on Sunday afternoons and an estimated 100,000 visitors took part in the first year. In 1965, tours were expanded to include parts of Kennedy Space Center – there were nearly 2,000 visitors on the first day and a dedicated visitor centre was subsequently funded.

Now among Tinseltown’s must-dos, the Universal Studios Tour was officially founded in 1964, although unofficial tours had been carried out on the movie lot for some time. The first tram tours cost $2.50 and were just 90 minutes long with stops to see costumes, a make-up demo and a walk through a star’s dressing room.

Inspired by a visit to Disneyland, real estate developer Angus G Wynne Jr decided his home state needed a similar attraction but with a Texan twist. Construction began in 1960 and Six Flags over Texas opened on 5 August 1961 with 8,374 in attendance. Tickets cost $2.75 for adults and $2.25 for children – the park was a pioneer of single admission prices. It had themed areas for each of the six nations (or flags) that had governed Texas.

While the year 1926 marked the birth of Route 66, the "Mother Road" really became synonymous with the great American road trip in the 1950s and 1960s. Post-war, American motorists flocked to Route 66 which was by now peppered with motels, auto camps, diners and gas stations. In 1960, Route 66, an American TV series that followed the escapades of a pair of young men travelling the route, aired on CBS. As the route continued to crop up in popular culture, America's fascination with it grew. Discover more epic road trips across the US here.

In a moment that revolutionised Florida’s tourism industry, the gates to Walt Disney World Resort were finally opened on 1 October 1971, several years after Walt Disney had initially purchased land in the vast swamplands of Orlando and Kissimmee. It welcomed 10,000 eager fans. Initially, it had six individually-themed lands: Main Street USA, Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Liberty Square and Tomorrowland. Sadly its creator, Walt Disney, didn’t live to see his creation.

Opening in 1907, Seattle’s marketplace is the oldest continuously operating farmers' market in the country and one of the city's most popular sights. After prospering in the 1920s (pictured) and 1930s, it fell on hard times and was slated for demolition in the 1960s. However a successful campaign saw it saved and a 17-acre historic district created in 1971, the same year the very first Starbucks opened at Pike Place. The market was renovated in 1974 and today it welcomes 10 million visitors.

Construction of the flagship building of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum started on the Mall in Washington DC in the early 1970s and it was inaugurated in 1976. It has the world’s largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft. The five millionth visitor crossed its threshold just six months later. Today, the National Air and Space Museum is one of the most-visited museums in the world with more than 8.6 million guests annually. Discover more of the world's best space museums here.

In 1979, Miami Beach was the first 20th-century neighbourhood to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. The preservation order was the work of the Miami Design Preservation League, which was first founded in 1976 along with Art Deco Welcome Center, to save the area’s then-neglected historic buildings from being destroyed. It was the starting point for guided tours through the 800-plus buildings and structures that make up Miami Beach's Art Deco Historic District.

Alcatraz Island’s history is far reaching, serving as a fortress and military jail since the mid-19th century. It became the world-famous federal penitentiary, known as The Rock, in 1934 and housed some of America’s most infamous felons, including Al Capone, until it closed in 1963. The island became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1972 and opened to the public as an attraction a year later. Today, it welcomes around one million tourists annually.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District in Atlanta was authorised as a national historic site in 1980. It contained a memorial tomb and several buildings key to the civil rights leader’s life, including his childhood home and Ebenezer Baptist Church (pictured) where he was baptised and where both he and his father were pastors. The site became a National Historical Park in 2018. Explore what else there is to see in Atlanta with our guide.

After Disney’s arrival in Florida proved to be a roaring success, Epcot (then Epcot Center) opened in 1982. The theme park, whose name stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, was initially intended to be a city where people would live and work. However, since Walt Disney died before his vision was realised, the site was turned into a glittering amusement park instead. It was the second of four theme parks to be built at Walt Disney World Resort. Discover America's best theme parks beyond Disney here. 

MGM-Disney Studios, which has since been renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios, was the next addition to the ever-expanding Walt Disney World Resort, opening in May 1989. It had six themed areas inspired by real locations in Los Angeles and Hollywood, including Hollywood Boulevard, Grand Avenue, Echo Lake and Sunset Boulevard. Its icon was the Earffel Tower, inspired by the real water tower at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, complete with Micky Mouse ears.

Silver Dollar City in Pigeon Forge was rebranded as Dollywood in 1986 after Tennessee native and superstar Dolly Parton joined the Herschend brothers in the theme park business. It drew 1.3 million visitors on opening – a 75% increase on Silver Dollar City's last season in 1985 – and included a new area called Rivertown Junction, with a replica of Dolly’s Locust Ridge childhood home. Dollywood became Tennessee's most-visited tourist attraction.

Elvis Presley’s home and final resting place opened to the public as a museum on 7 June 1982, five years after his death. Near Memphis, Graceland, which the superstar bought in 1957, is now the second most-visited private home in the United States after the White House, with more than 650,000 visitors a year.

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In the 1990s, Walt Disney World continued its dizzying rise to success with a huge amount of openings including Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Splash Mountain, as well as 10 new resorts. Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the largest of the parks at over 500 acres, opened in 1998 with a grand ceremony that was attended by a crowd of 2,000 people. It marked a departure for the conglomerate as it focused on real-life animals as well as Disney characters.

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What was to become one of Las Vegas’ most famous landmarks, the Bellagio Fountains was unveiled in 1998 when the $1.6 billion Bellagio Hotel opened to the public on 15 October in suitably lavish style. The famous Bellagio Fountain show, which takes place every 30 minutes when the jets dance to music and lights, lures huge crowds of visitors and is one of the entertainment hub’s rare free shows. 

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