Travel through historic Philly in new outdoor photo series

This Fourth of July Philadelphians will get a chance to celebrate not only their country’s history, but their city’s as well, thanks to a new outdoor photo display.

The project, hosted by LinkPhl and the Department of Public Records, will display historic images of various spots and buildings around Philly a they stood in the 1800s and early 1900s. The images will be displayed on nine LinkPhl kiosks around Center City starting this week and lasting for months. LinkPhl says they will update the kiosks with new photos from the city archives on an ongoing basis.

“We aim to make residents feel like tourists in their own city, and tourists feel like native Philadelphians,” Alexandra Aylward of LinkPhl said.

Included in the photo series are pictures of many spots that no longer exist, like a 1929 image of the Mastbaum Theater that once stood by 20th and JFK Boulevard. Another photo shows an entirely different intersection at 15th and Market in 1925. Each photo in the series will be shown at a kiosk near where the picture was originally taken.

LinkPHL has kiosks around Center City that provide free wifi, charging stations, and screens with information about transportation, community notifications, and more.

Just a few months ago, for Black History Month, LinkPHL partnered with the African American Museum in Philadelphia to display historic photos of the Civil Rights movement on kiosks around the city.