The 19th Century
A century of expansion, industry, and upheaval, for the places whose significance spans more than a single period.
11 landmarks across 7 states and the District of Columbia. Start with Washington Monument, Women's Rights National Historical Park and Promontory Summit.
- Landmarks
- 11
- Period
- 1800–1900
Pictured Washington Monument
Roman Eugeniusz · CC BY-SA · via Wikimedia Commons
The Landmarks
- The 19th Century
Washington Monument
Washington, DC
The Washington Monument is the towering marble obelisk at the heart of the National Mall, built to honor George Washington — commander of the Continental Army and first President of the United States.
The 19th CenturyWomen's Rights National Historical Park
Seneca Falls, NY
In a small chapel in upstate New York in July 1848, a gathering of women and men issued a declaration that would take more than seventy years to fully redeem: that women deserved the same rights as men, including the vote.
The 19th CenturyPromontory Summit
Promontory, UT
On a remote stretch of Utah desert, a single ceremonial spike closed the gap between the Atlantic and Pacific and remade the nation.
The 19th CenturyEastern State Penitentiary
Philadelphia, PA
Eastern State Penitentiary was built on a radical idea: that solitude and reflection, not punishment and crowding, would reform criminals.
The 19th CenturyCape Hatteras Lighthouse
Buxton, NC
Off North Carolina's Outer Banks, the shifting sandbars of Diamond Shoals have wrecked so many ships that the waters earned the name 'Graveyard of the Atlantic.'
The 19th CenturySmithsonian Institution Building
Washington, DC
The Smithsonian Institution Building, universally known as 'the Castle,' is the founding home of the world's largest museum, education, and research complex — built on the gift of a British scientist who never once set foot in the country he endowed.
The 19th CenturyCable Car System
San Francisco, CA
The last manually operated cable car system on Earth, saved from extinction by a grassroots ballot campaign, and the only moving object ever designated a National Historic Landmark.
The 19th CenturyGateway to the West Historic District
St. Louis, MO
A national memorial to westward expansion built by demolishing the very 19th-century riverfront blocks that had made St. Louis a gateway to the West in the first place, preserving only a courthouse where an enslaved man once sued for his freedom.
The 19th CenturyMackinac Island Historic District
Mackinac Island, MI
A former national park turned state park where motor vehicles have been banned since 1898, Mackinac Island preserves both a Revolutionary War-era fort and a slice of 19th-century travel that most of America left behind more than a century ago.
The 19th CenturyNiagara Reservation
Niagara Falls, NY
The country's oldest state park, created when artists and preservationists forced New York to reclaim Niagara Falls from private operators who had walled off the view and charged admission — the first American land set aside purely to keep a natural wonder free for everyone.
The 19th CenturyCentral Park
New York, NY
America's first great landscaped public park, built by displacing a thriving African American community called Seneca Village, Central Park became the model for the idea that every city needed green space set aside purely for its residents' well-being.
