What Was There – If cement could talk. It’s hard to believe, but today’s streets of America’s metropolises hold countless stories and moments of history. To us the streets of major cities have always been there, but What Was There shows what the streets that are so familiar to us today looked like in the past.

Based on Google Maps technology and user-submitted data and photos, What Was There is “a virtual time machine of sorts that allows users to navigate familiar streets as they appeared in the past.”  The result is nothing short of astonishing and fascinating. Here are a couple of examples:

Tammany Hall, NYC, 1914

Not only you can see photos of what the streets looked like decades, even 100 years ago, you can use the magnifying glass feature on any zoomed in photo to see more details (simply roll over the photo). It’s just like going back in time.

In front of Tiffany’s, CA 1899

If you have an old street photo of anywhere in the world, and you wish to submit it to this formidable project, sign in and upload your photos. Help in perpetuating the human experience of past places and moments.