Last Updated on August 5, 2025 by Colby Droscher
This collection of 25 photographs captures those fleeting moments in striking detail. Whether showing crowded urban centers, quiet rural scenes, or glimpses of everyday life, each image reflects a world in motion. A world grappling with the past while inching toward the future.
Together, they offer a rare visual snapshot of a decade that helped shape the modern age, just before the 20th century took hold. Here are 25 photos that define the last decade of the 19th century.
1. A sailor clinging tightly to his little friend, 1890
2. Sharpshooter taking a joyride on a rearing horse, 1890
3. Irish explorer Tom Crean and his adorable buddies
4. Sumo wrestlers looked a lot different in 1890
5. Laying a wooden water pipeline in Idaho, 1891
6. A portrait of Buffalo Bill’s star sharpshooter Annie Oakley, 1891
7. Loggers showing off their valiant effort in taking down a 1300-year-old tree, 1892
8. They took snow people very seriously in 1892
9. The Chicago World’s Fair, 1893
10. In 1893, they moved houses with horses
11. The original Michelin Man, 1894
12. 10th Ave in NYC was known as the ‘Avenue of Death,’ 1894
13. The Man At The Wheel Saloon, 1895
14. One of the largest cacti ever found in Mexico, 1895
15. Mark Twain messing around in Nikola Tesla’s NYC lab, 1895
16. A very young Winston Churchill, 1895
17. Mark Twain and his daughter goofing around, 1895
18. Queen Victoria spending time with the last Tsar of Russia and his family, 1896
19. A soldier and his folding bicycle called the Gladiator, 1896
20. Reading a book while churning butter with her friend, 1897
21. Hector Boiardi, the icon behind Chef Boyardee, 1897
22. Grabbing a cold one at a pub in London, 1898
23. The famed 19th-century tornado, caught on camera in 1898, in Oklahoma
24. The first photograph taken underwater, France, 1899
25. Sharpshooter Annie Oakley doing an over-the-shoulder trick shot, 1899
Want to see more content from the 1800s?
Check out 20 Colorized Photos of the Mid to the Late 1890s, or take a look at 35 Vintage Photos Of The Mid-1870s. Finally, if you want to see famous historical figures from the 1800s, check out 15 Historical Figures From the 1800s That Could’ve Been The Greatest to Ever Live.
