Nottingham continued to grow rapidly, especially after 1845 when a great deal of land around it was released for building. Nottingham gained gas street lighting in 1819. However like all towns in the early 19th century Nottingham was a dirty, unsanitary place. There was a cholera epidemic in 1833, which killed 330 people. However life in 19th century Nottingham gradually improved. In the mid-19th century the piped water supply was taken over by the corporation and was greatly expanded. After 1835 Nottingham had its first proper police force and a new prison was built in 1846. Meanwhile the railway first reached Nottingham in 1839. The first public library in Nottingham opened in 1868 and University College was formed in 1881, when ""Nottingham Old And New"" was published.

This book was first published in 1966. The city of Nottingham grew from the nucleus of a smaller and older town to become one of the nation's leading industrial centres, and although it was not a product of the industrial revolution Nottingham was completely transformed by it. For most of the nineteenth century the major activities were the production of hosiery by an industry whose methods, organization, and outlook remained traditional for many decades, and the manufacture of machine-made lace, a progressive and mechanized industry which from its early years featured factory production. This text explores the relationship between the development of power based machinery and the more traditional crafts of the area.

This is an exhaustive study of the county from its infancy to the middle of the 19th century, with chapters on the early settlements and towns, churches, schools, businesses and industries, and sketches of the county's participation in the Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Genealogists will be delighted with the coverage given to such early families as: Alexander, Carroll, Van Bibber, Leslie, Hall, Churchman, Evans, Mitchell, Mauldin, Gilpin, Rudulph, Rumsey, Hyland, Defoe, Ramsay, and Hartshorne.