30 Historical Pics We’re Thankful Someone Had the Instinct to Take

solidsnake4545 Published 05/25/2022 in ftw

Some of the most fascinating and perfectly timed photos throughout history.

Aside from the fact that these are incredibly timeless and important photos from our world's history, most of them were taken on instinct. The historical importance wouldn't be realized until many years later. And that's something to appreciate.

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1. Winter in 1883 was so brutal that Niagara falls literally froze over.
2. An old Fiat factory in Italy had an entire race track on the roof. Needless to say it's one of the coolest pieces of architecture we've ever seen.
3. In 1974, Mary Wallace became the first ever female bus driver in Chicago Transit Authority history.
4. Soldiers in 1989, paying their respects to an injured veteran.
5. In 1989, citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania formed a human chain in order to show that the countries were United. The chain was an effort to get out of the Soviet Union, and escape from communism.
6. West Berlin residents lifting up their children so that family members who lived in East Berlin can see.
7. Helen Mirren looked absolutely banging as Cleopatra. What a fox. She was in her twenties when this photo was taken.
8. Russian photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky would take 3 individual black & white pics. This 110-year-old photo was colorized using green, red, and blue filters that he would put on each image respectively.
9. Chicago in the '30s included these elevator-style parking garages.
10. Samson Beaver and his family. Samson was a Stoney First Nation member and explorer. The photo was taken by Mary Schäffer in 1907.
11. A battlefield that still bears the scars of WWI.
12. 1961, a German soldier assists a young boy in getting over the Berlin Wall.
13. A 1949 diesel vehicle. Engineers actually took time to think about car mechanics.
14. 1944, FBI finger-printing filing room.
15. One of the first iterations of what we now know as a motorhome, 1922.
16. Chernobyl on the morning of the disaster. There was so much radiation in the air that it started destroying the film immediately after it was exposed, causing the graininess.
17. Circa 1965, Rosa Parks takes her seat at the front of a bus after segregation was ended by the transit service.
18. During construction of the Twin Towers (1970) you could actually see the core infrastructure of the buildings.
19. London, 1929. A 'Knocker-Up.' Long before alarm clocks, this was your wake-up call. People were paid to hit windows and doors with a stick to wake up clients.
20. Oh you know, just a casual masterpiece by Pablo Picasso. He painted this when he was 15 years old.
21. 1942, models recreate 'American Gothic.' Nan Wood Graham was actually the sister of the painter, while Byron Mckeeby was their dentist.
22. Cologne Cathedral, March 1945. American soldiers attend mass in the wreckage and rubble.
23. Sunday best! Kids dressed for church in the '40s (Chicago.)
24. German officers wearing an early type of radar. It used sound to locate enemy aircrafts (1917.)
25. Seal on King Tut's tomb. The seal was broken open in 1923. Prior to that it had remained sealed for over 3,000 years.
26. 1967, Hanoi North Vietnam. Air raid alerts were a regular occurrence.
27. California, 1937. A 32-year-old mother starting a new life with her child.
28. Column Of Marcus Aurelius. The detail is just absolutely dumbfounding, Circa A.D. 193.
29. Photo: Ernst Haas, Austria 1946.

A POW finally makes it back home.
30. Winston Churchill at age 20.

1. Winter in 1883 was so brutal that Niagara falls literally froze over.
2. An old Fiat factory in Italy had an entire race track on the roof. Needless to say it's one of the coolest pieces of architecture we've ever seen.
3. In 1974, Mary Wallace became the first ever female bus driver in Chicago Transit Authority history.
4. Soldiers in 1989, paying their respects to an injured veteran.
5. In 1989, citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania formed a human chain in order to show that the countries were United. The chain was an effort to get out of the Soviet Union, and escape from communism.
6. West Berlin residents lifting up their children so that family members who lived in East Berlin can see.
7. Helen Mirren looked absolutely banging as Cleopatra. What a fox. She was in her twenties when this photo was taken.
8. Russian photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky would take 3 individual black & white pics. This 110-year-old photo was colorized using green, red, and blue filters that he would put on each image respectively.
9. Chicago in the '30s included these elevator-style parking garages.
10. Samson Beaver and his family. Samson was a Stoney First Nation member and explorer. The photo was taken by Mary Schäffer in 1907.
11. A battlefield that still bears the scars of WWI.
12. 1961, a German soldier assists a young boy in getting over the Berlin Wall.
13. A 1949 diesel vehicle. Engineers actually took time to think about car mechanics.
14. 1944, FBI finger-printing filing room.
15. One of the first iterations of what we now know as a motorhome, 1922.
16. Chernobyl on the morning of the disaster. There was so much radiation in the air that it started destroying the film immediately after it was exposed, causing the graininess.
17. Circa 1965, Rosa Parks takes her seat at the front of a bus after segregation was ended by the transit service.
18. During construction of the Twin Towers (1970) you could actually see the core infrastructure of the buildings.
19. London, 1929. A 'Knocker-Up.' Long before alarm clocks, this was your wake-up call. People were paid to hit windows and doors with a stick to wake up clients.
20. Oh you know, just a casual masterpiece by Pablo Picasso. He painted this when he was 15 years old.
21. 1942, models recreate 'American Gothic.' Nan Wood Graham was actually the sister of the painter, while Byron Mckeeby was their dentist.
22. Cologne Cathedral, March 1945. American soldiers attend mass in the wreckage and rubble.
23. Sunday best! Kids dressed for church in the '40s (Chicago.)
24. German officers wearing an early type of radar. It used sound to locate enemy aircrafts (1917.)
25. Seal on King Tut's tomb. The seal was broken open in 1923. Prior to that it had remained sealed for over 3,000 years.
26. 1967, Hanoi North Vietnam. Air raid alerts were a regular occurrence.
27. California, 1937. A 32-year-old mother starting a new life with her child.
28. Column Of Marcus Aurelius. The detail is just absolutely dumbfounding, Circa A.D. 193.
29. Photo: Ernst Haas, Austria 1946.

A POW finally makes it back home.
30. Winston Churchill at age 20.