I am always interested to see how people used to live. It gives you perspective and it can really make you appreciate what you have. In some cases, it can make you nostalgic for how things are. Here are 21 rare photos of Illinois.

1. Mules were used in place of tow trucks in Franklin County in 1939.
Arthur Rothstein/Photogrammar
2. A man directs traffic in front of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1940.
John Vachon/Photogrammar
3. A man waits for a bus in front of a feed store in Peoria in 1938.
Arthur Rothstein/Photogrammar
4. A drunken fisherman hangs out in his trailer in Ottawa in 1937.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
5. This gospel car is abandoned in Kewanee in 1937.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
6. This mother and children hang out on a farm in De Kalb in 1942.
Ann Rosener/Photogrammar
7. A woman walks into a grocery store in Marion in 1940.
Arthur Rothstein/Photogrammar
8. Farmers hang out at a soil conservation meeting in Livingston County in 1937.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
9. Men shell corn into a car in Newton in 1937.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
10. A girl listens to the radio in Crawford in 1940.
John Vachon/Photogrammar

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11. Doctors operate in Herrin in 1939.
Arthur Rothstein/Photogrammar
12. A grain elevator stands in Gibson City in 1936.
Carl Mydans/Photogrammar
13. Women work a canning job in Rochelle in 1942.
Ann Rosener/Photogrammar
14. A 1937 flood took its toll on this Maunie backyard.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
15. An evangelist preaches a sermon in Cambria in 1939.
Arthur Rothstein/Photogrammar
16. A chemist works on production of butylene glycol.
William J. Forsythe/Photogrammar
17. This is what a residential street in Elgin looked like in 1941.
John Vachon/Photogrammar
18. People walk down State Street in Chicago in 1940.
John Vachon/Photogrammar
19. Men talk on the street in Danville in 1937.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
20. Part of a circus is stranded in Urbana in 1925.
Ben Stahn/Photogrammar
21. This is what movie theaters looked like in 1941 in Chicago.
John Vachon/Photogrammar

Aren’t these awesome? If you have some super old photos hanging around, be sure to share them on the Only in Illinois Facebook page!

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