This was by the renown photographer Matthew Brady, taken about the same time as the one above, in 1863:

The locomotive was only known as "The Fire Fly." We can be confident that it wasn't moving at this moment in ... history.

Steve

Okay, here's the clincher, Zach!

Born this day, March 7 1765, Joseph-Nicéphore Niepce made the earliest surviving photograph of a real-world scene in either 1826 or 1827.

View from the Window at Le Gras:

It is on display at the University of Texas in Austin, if'n you ever get down that way.

Steve

That stuff is pretty remarkable, Steve. I wonder how Niepce contrived the technology for his camera? I know how to push the button, but technology (of any kind really) eludes me. Trying to build a camera from scratch, not only material but idea and knowledge is quite a feat. Shoulders of giants indeed my friend.

Thanks for thinking of me!