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Photos: Fourth of July Celebrations From Years Past

The Atlantic
July 1, 2026 at 4:33 PM
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Photos: Fourth of July Celebrations From Years Past

Images of parades, beach days, firework shows, and other Independence Day celebrations across the United States, over the past century.

President Obama and his family, seen in silhouette, watch fireworks, in 2014.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Malia Obama watch the Fourth of July fireworks from the roof of the White House on July 4, 2014.
Dozens of people in long bathing costumes play in the surf in 1911.
Underwood & Underwood / Getty
Original caption: “Bathers in the waters of the Atlantic with the Steel Pier in the background, Atlantic City, New Jersey, July 4, 1911.”
People stand on either side of a street, watching a Fourth of July parade in Nome, Alaska, in 1916.
Library of Congress
People enjoy a Fourth of July parade on Front Street in Nome, Alaska, in 1916.
A girl wearing a crown that reads
Harris & Ewing / Library of Congress
Original caption: “Fourth of July, 1916. Child as ‘Liberty.’”
A 62-foot-tall copper-plated elk statue stands in a busy intersection in downtown Butte, Montana, in 1916.
Transcendental Graphics / Getty
A view of Broadway and Main streets in Butte, Montana, straddled by a 62-foot-tall copper-plated elk (tall enough for a streetcar to pass underneath) in July 1916. The elk was commissioned by the local chapter of the Elks Lodge for the joint celebration of the Fourth of July and the annual Elks convention.
A truck tows a prop-motor biplane on a trailer in a parade in New York City in 1918. The propeller is spinning.
Library of Congress
Original caption: “Fourth of July parade on Fifth Avenue, New York City, in 1918, with a Curtiss bombing plane mounted on a truck. View is south on 5th Avenue at 58th Street.”
Hundreds of 1920s-era automobiles, parked near a busy beach
Hirz / Getty
A high-angle view of hundreds of parked automobiles near Nantasket Beach, Massachusetts, with bathers walking along the shore and swimming in the surf during a Fourth of July weekend, circa 1925.
A beach, jam-packed with people in bathing suits, in 1938
Bettmann / Getty
Original caption from 1938: “Brooklyn, New York: Coney Island. Those who were not fortunate enough to spend the Fourth of July weekend away from the city are shown as they packed the sands at Coney Island. Police estimated there were one million persons in this crowd. You count ‘em.”
Two women stand on a beach, each wearing what looks like a small personal tent—a
NY Daily News Archive / Getty
Original caption from July 4, 1938: “Rita Perchetti and Gloria Rossi trying out their new portable bathhouses so they can change their clothes after sunbathing on Coney Island beach.”
Dozens of well-dressed people stand along a road, beside a Texaco station, on the Fourth of July in 1939.
Marion Post Wolcott / Library of Congress
Original caption: “A Fourth of July celebration, St. Helena Island, South Carolina, 1939”
A couple sits high on a Ferris wheel, looking out over a crowded beach.
Paul Bernius / NY Daily News Archive / Getty
Original caption from July 4, 1947: “Looking down on part of the record crowd at Coney Island from the Ferris wheel.”
An older couple lies napping together on a blanket at the shady base of a tree.
Russell Lee / Library of Congress
Original caption: “Interlude, after watching the Fourth of July parade. Vale, Oregon, 1941.”
A large crowd sits on bleachers on a shoreline in front of New York City buildings, including the Twin Towers, in 1976.
Allan Tannenbaum / Getty
Original caption: “As part America's Bicentennial Celebration, a crowd of people fill bleachers on the Battery Park City landfill as they watch the OpSail (Operation Sail) parade of tall ships, New York, New York, July 4, 1976.”
Thousands of small boats float together near the Statue of Liberty during a festival.
Joe Sohm / Visions of America / Universal Images Group / Getty
A flotilla gathers near the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, celebrating the Fourth of July on “Liberty Weekend,” which also celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, in 1986.
Two people scramble, running past trucks as fireworks light up close behind them.
Chris Pietsch / Lewiston Morning Tribune / USA Today Network / Reuters
Original caption: “Two pyrotechs scramble for safety as boxes of fireworks accidentally explode during setup for a Fourth of July show in Clarkston, Washington, in 1987.”
People laugh as they ride inner tubes down a gentle set of falls in a river.
Bob Owen / ZUMA Press Wire / Reuters
Fourth of July tubers ride down Huaco Falls on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, Texas, in 2004.
Visitors walk past a balloon replica of the head of the Statue of Liberty.
Elaine Thompson / AP
Visitors walk past a balloon replica of the head of the Statue of Liberty as it is raised at Seattle’s Gas Works Park on July 2, 1999.
A boy energetically eats a large slice of watermelon during a contest.
Nathan Morgan / Redding Record Searchlight / ZUMA Press Wire / Reuters
D. J. Morrow eats his way to the rind in a watermelon-eating contest during the Lions Club Fourth of July festivities in Cottonwood, California, in 2009. “It feels good in my stomach,” said Morrow, after he came in second, “I’ve eaten more than that before.”
A crowd in a park enjoys Fourth of July fireworks, with Seattle's skyline in the background.
Courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives
A crowd at Seattle’s Gas Works Park enjoys Fourth of July fireworks over Lake Union, in 2015.
A person wears a sombrero, waving an American flag during a parade.
Tara Ziemba / Getty
A parade attendee carries a flag at the 112th Annual Huntington Beach Fourth of July Parade in Huntington Beach, California, on July 4, 2016.
Fireworks explode above the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Paul J. Richards / AFP / Getty
Fireworks explode above the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2017.
An aerial view of two Navy parachutists towing a large American flag tethered between them, above a small-boat harbor and a golf course.
IMAGO / Piemags / Reuters
Members of the U.S. Navy parachute team, the Leap Frogs, carry a tethered American flag during a demonstration jump above San Diego’s Glorietta Bay on the Fourth of July in 2020.
People watch fireworks during a Fourth of July celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in 2021.
IMAGO / Piemags / Reuters
Frontline workers and military families watch fireworks during the Fourth of July celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2021.
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