Wisconsin Panoramic Maps. 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.
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.
| 1. Antigo 1886 2. Appleton 1867 3. Ashland 1886 4. Ashland 1890 5. Bayfield 1886 6. Beaver Dam 1867 7. Beloit 1890 8. Berlin 1867 9. Boscobel 1869 10. Chippewa Falls 1886 11. Chippewa Falls 1907 1906 12. Columbus 1868 13. Delavan 1884 14. Fond du Lac 1867 15. Fort Atkinson 1870 16. Green Bay / Fort Howard 1867 17. Hudson 1870 18. Hurley 1886 19. Jefferson 1870 20. La Crosse 1867 21. La Crosse 1873 22. La Crosse 1887 23. Lake Geneva 1882 24. Madison 1867 25. Madison 1885 26. Madison 1885 27. Medford 1885 28. Menomonee Falls 1886 29. Merrill 1883 30. Milwaukee 1854 31. Milwaukee 1872 |
32. Milwaukee 1879 33. Milwaukee 1882 34. Milwaukee 1898 35. Milwaukee 1906? 36. Oconomowoc / Sheboygan 1885 37. Oconomowoc / Waukesha 1890? 38. Oshkosh 185- 39. Oshkosh 1867 40. Peshtigo 1871 41. Portage 1868 42. Prairie du Chien 1870 43. Prairie du Sac 1870 44. Racine 1883 45. Reedsburg 1874 46. Ripon 1867 47. River Falls 1880 48. Sauk City 1870 49. Sheboygan 1885 50. Superior 1883 51. Superior 1890? 52. Superior 1913 53. Superior / Duluth 1915 54. Washburn 1886 55. Watertown 1867 56. Watertown 1885 57. Waukesha ca 1857 58. Waukesha 1880 1879 59. Waupun 1885 60. Wauwatosa / Milwaukee Suburban Area 1892 61. West Superior (Superior) 1887 62. Whitewater 1855 |
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 Windows computer platforms are included on this CD.
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 Windows platforms and full installation instructions are included on the CD.
