20 vintage photos show what life was like in America's small towns 100 years ago

Hermosa, South Dakota, 1927.

George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images

• Small mining towns flourished at the start of the 1900s.
• Up until the 1930s, horse-drawn carriages and automobiles could still be seen on the same streets.
• Today, many of these towns lean on their history as tourist attractions.

Rural small towns that are today shaped by Dollar General stores and rusty industrial plants were once lively brick-paved main streets where domestic manufacturing and tight-knit communities flourished.