With the completion of the world's first skyscraper in Chicago in 1885, the modern city skyline was born. The 180-foot steel-framed Home Insurance Building rose above the Windy City, and Americans have been reaching higher ever since. Each American city has its own unique story of development, steeped in history and innovation. Skylines: American Cities Yesterday and Today celebrates a selection of forty-eight cities, bringing the old to meet the new in a way sure to delight and inform the reader. From Boston to San Diego, Minneapolis to San Antonio, this unique book presents early black-and-white panoramic shots from the turn of the twentieth century juxtaposed with their breathtaking contemporary panoramic counterparts. Each modern panorama is accompanied by a keyed line drawing to help locate the major points of interest. Archival photographs and historical maps from as early as the 1870s chronicle the profound changes in the urban American landscape.