The panoramic
map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian
cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries (1847 to 1929.) Known also as bird's-eye views, perspective
maps, and aero views, panoramic maps are nonphotographic representations
of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle.
Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns,
individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective.
Panoramic
maps graphically depict the vibrant life of a city. Harbors are
shown choked with ships, often to the extent of constituting hazards
to navigation. Trains speed along railroad tracks, at times on
the same roadbed with locomotives and cars headed in the opposite
direction. People and horsedrawn carriages fill the streets, and
smoke belches from the stacks of industrial plants. Urban and
industrial development in post-Civil War America is vividly portrayed
in the maps.
Victorian
America's panoramic maps are quite remarkable in the perspective
of the cities they capture. Most panoramic maps were published
independently, not as plates in an atlas or in a descriptive geographical
book. Preparation and sale of nineteenth-century panoramas were
motivated by civic pride and the desire of the city fathers to
encourage commercial growth. Many views were prepared for and
endorsed by chambers of commerce and other civic organizations
and were used as advertisements of a city's commercial and residential
potential. These maps reveal much about the great contrasts and
contradictions of the industrial age and the progressive era.
Preparation
of panoramic maps involved a vast amount of painstakingly detailed
labor. For each project a frame or projection was developed, showing
in perspective the pattern of streets. The artist then walked
in the street, sketching buildings, trees, and other features
to present a complete and accurate landscape as though seen from
an elevation of 2,000 to 3,000 feet.
Panoramic
maps graphically depict the vibrant life of a city. Harbors are
shown choked with ships, often to the extent of constituting hazards
to navigation. Trains speed along railroad tracks, at times on
the same roadbed with locomotives and cars headed in the opposite
direction. People and horsedrawn carriages fill the streets, and
smoke belches from the stacks of industrial plants. Urban and
industrial development in post-Civil War America is vividly portrayed
in the maps.
Here
is a complete list of the city maps included in this collection.
Where you see a city listed several times, there are several different
maps - either maps created in different years and/or by different
map making companies.
101. Millersburg 1894
102. Millersville 1894
103. Miners Mills / Mill Creek 1892
104. Minersville 1889
105. Mohnton 1898
106. Monaca 1900
107. Monongahela 1902
108. Montrose (Susquehanna County) 1890
109. Moosic 1892
110. Morrisville (Bucks County) 1893
111. Morrisville (Bucks County) 1900
112. Moscow 1891
113. Mount Joy (Lancaster County) 1894
114. Mount Pleasant (Westmoreland County) 1900
115. Mount Union (Huntingdon County) 1906
116. Mountville 1894
117. New Brighton 1883
118. New Brighton 1901
119. New Castle 1896
120. New Kensington 1896
121. New Kensington 1902
122. Newmanstown / Sheridan (Lebanon County) 1898
123. Newport / East Newport 1895
124. Newtown (Bucks County) 1893
125. Newville (Cumberland County) 1903
126. Norristown 1881
127. North East 1896
128. Oil City 1896
129. Orbisonia / Rockhill Furnance 1906
130. Oxford 1907
131. Peckville 1892
132. Pen Argyl 1894
133. Pen Argyl 1916
134. Pennsburg 1894
135. Perkasie 1894
136. Philadelphia 1857
137. Philadelphia 1870?
138. Philadelphia 1872
139. Philadelphia 1876
140. Philadelphia 1876
141. Philadelphia 1885
142. Philadelphia d1886
143. Philadelphia 1887
144. Philadelphia 1888 1887
145. Philadelphia 1907
146. Philadelphia 1908
147. Philadelphia / Philadelphia Metropolitan Area 1926?
148. Pitcairn 1901
149. Pittsburgh 1871
150. Pittsburgh 1874
151. Pittsburgh 1902
152. Pittston / West Pittston 1892 |
153. Plains 1892
154. Point Marion 1902
155. Pottsville 1833
156. Pottsville 1889
157. Providence (Scranton) 1892
158. Reading 1881
159. Reading 1898
160. Ridgway 1895
161. Rochester 1900
162. Roscoe 1902
163. Royersford 1893
164. Saint Marys (Elk County) 1895
165. Schwenksville 1894
166. Scranton 1890
167. Sellersville 1894
168. Sharon 1901
169. Sharpsville 1901
170. Sheffield 1895
171. Shenandoah 1889
172. Sinking Spring 1898
173. Somerset 1900
174. Souderton 1894
175. South Fork 1900
176. Strasburg 1903
177. Tarentum 1901
178. Telford 1894
179. Terre Hill 1894
180. Tidioute 1896
181. Tionesta 1896
182. Titusville 1871
183. Titusville 1896
184. Topton 1893
185. Towanda 1880
186. Tullytown 1887
187. Turtle Creek 1897
188. Tyrone 1895
189. Union City 1895
190. Uniontown (Fayette County) 1897
191. Valley Forge 1890
192. Verona / Oakmont (Allegheny County) 1896
193. Washington 1897
194. Waynesburg 1897
195. West Bethlehem Township 1894
196. West Newton 1900
197. Wilkes-Barre 1889
198. Williamsburg (Blair County) 1906
199. Wilmerding 1897
200. Wilson (Allegheny)
/ Mendelssohn 1902
201. Windber 1900
202. Wrightsville (York County) 1894
203. York 1852
204. York 1879
205. Zelienople 1901 |
Each map image
on this CD is a super high resolution scan of an original panoramic
map. Original maps were often as large as 36" x 36"
or even larger. To offer all these maps at 100% detail, they are
stored in either MRSid format or in JPEG 2000 format and require
special viewers to be able to view all the details in these superb
historical maps. Viewers and full viewing instructions for both
Windows and Macintosh computer platforms are included on this
CD.
Some Additional Map Samples
Below you
will find an example of the enlargement ability of the maps contained
on this CD. You will see how you can view a small snapshot of
the image all the way up to an incredible level of detail at the
highest resolutions. The below set of images comes from Mystic
CT and gives an excellent example of the level of detail in these
maps at various levels of "magnification".
(Smallest size of this image)
(Small portion enlarged 2 times)
(Small portion enlarged 3 times)
(Small portion enlarged 4 times)
(Small portion enlarged 5 times - this enlargement
represents the full
original size of the map when printed at full scale.)
As you can
see from the above images, each map offers hours of exploration
and excitement as you explore the cities as they were 100 or more
years ago.
These maps
may be viewed on your computer or printed out. The software will
allow you to size the maps to any level of detail you wish and
either print out the entire map or just a portion of it. (Even
full scale maps can be printed with a large enough printer - like
the ones used in your neighborhood poster and print shops.)
To use this
software, you must install the free Map Viewing software which
is included on the CD. This is a 30 second process and will allow
you to view and manipulate/print all the maps in this CD collection
in full detail. There are versions for both Windows platforms
and Macintosh platforms and full installation instructions are
included on the CD. |