Last Updated on June 17, 2025 by Matt Staff
Color photography didn’t exist in the 1890s, but today’s technology gives us a rare chance to revisit that era in full color. These 20 carefully colorized images reveal what life looked like more than a century ago, offering a vivid look at a time of enormous change. The late 19th century was marked by growing cities, shifting social roles, and major technological advances.
From crowded urban streets to quiet portraits of ordinary people, each image tells a unique story. You’ll see not just how people dressed or where they lived, but the expressions, the energy, and the world they moved through. The color adds a layer of realism that black-and-white photos often lack, letting us connect more deeply with the people and places of that time. Here are 20 colorized photos from the early to mid-1890s.
1. An old sailor and his dog, 1890
2. Nikola Tesla in 1890
3. Nebraska farm settlers, 1890
4. A young couple enjoying the park, 1890
5. Shipping wheat off to the market, 1890
6. This slab of sequoia was 18 feet long, 1891
7. The Women of the Harvard Astronomical Observatory, 1891
8. Staten Island tennis players, 1892
9. A man in southern Sweden in front of a turf hut, 1892
10. The White City, Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition
11. The SS Gallic, 1894
12. Queen Victoria and her family at a wedding in Germany, 1894
13. The discovery of the Statue of Antunous in Delphi, Greece, 1894
14. Otto con Bismarck of the German Empire, 1894
15. Bar patrons outside a bar called The Squirrel, Sweden, 1895
16. Montparnasse derailment in 1895
17. A crew member of the U.S.S. Chicago, 1895
18. The Norwegian ship Fram, July 1895
19. An ambulance for Bellevue Hospital in New York, 1896
20. The Jupiter Train in Florida, 1896
Want to see more content from the 1800s?
Check out 25 Colorized Photos From The Late 1890s, or take a look at 35 Vintage Photos Of The Mid-1870s. Finally, if you want to see photos from the Civil War, check out 20 Colorized Photos From the Civil War That Bring It to Life.