Last Updated on April 29, 2025 by Matt Staff
The Gilded Age is known as a time that underwent rapid change, stunning wealth, and remarkable contrasts throughout America. From the larger-than-life mansions to the ever-bustling, hustling city streets, it was truly an era that industrialists, inventors, and everyday civilians helped to shape the country’s future.
Colorized photos are able to instill that much more vivid emotion into the various snapshots that serve to make up the period of time in history. So, take a step back in time and immerse yourself in some of the rich history that looms within the infamous Gilded Age.
1. The dresses of the Gilded Age were something else
What a lovely shade of pink we have going on here.
2. Ambrose Burnside, 1870s
Not sure if these beards are ever going to make a comeback or not.
3. An 1870s politician holding a pose
The politicians from back in the day really knew how to make a statement with their facial hair.
4. Mark Twain was actually a redhead, taken in 1870
Who’d have thought it?
5. Miss Stevenson back in the 1870s
The hats back then really knew how to bring it. Makes sense with it being the Gilded Age and all.
6. Nicolas Cage, is that you though?
Yet another referential exhibit in terms of Nicolas Cage potentially being immortal.
7. A distinguished lady’s portrait back in the 1870s
There are some stories behind those downcast eyes.
8. President James Garfield and his daughter, around 1870
Honestly, doesn’t look like dad and his kid are having the best time here.
9. Representative William McKinley, 1870s-1880s
That’s an intense bow-tie.
10. Miss Sophia Morrison with the iconic hair
You can already tell that all that jewelry surely fetched a pretty penny.
11. Apparently this kid’s name was Stanley Cain, and it was taken back in the 1870s
Stanley Cain is one very serious looking kid.
12. Congressman, James Garfield back in the 1870s
Those are some striking blue eyes if I’ve ever seen them.
13. Those colors really make that shot pop
Love the decision to make that dress such a vivid magenta here.
14. You’ve just got to wonder what’s so funny?
It almost seems like she got caught up in a laugh, but it was already too late.
15. Breaker Boys at the Woodward Coal Mines in Kingston, Pennsylvania, circa 1900
Being a “Breaker Boy” was no easy life.
16. An old sailor with his dog in 1890
That dog is obviously a very good boy.
17. It seems like she had to hold that pose for quite some time
No kidding, hopefully she was able to blink a few times.
18. Young fellow is looking quite studious there, indeed
Looks like the young lad isn’t particularly enjoying his studies.
19. Just a young lad and his dog out in New Athens, Ohio in the 1890s
Yes, hold that loyal dog close, kid.
Want more vintage photos? Time-travel through 25 Colorized Photos From the 1950s , meet frontier moguls in 25 Real Photos of Wild West Icons , or see opulent New England estates in 20 Vintage Photos That Capture Boston’s Charm and Grit .