Your city's historic maps?

KevinFromTexas · #1 Posted **Mar 5, 2013, 10:11 PM**

I found this website. It belongs to the Perry-Castañeda Library on the UT Campus. The library is the 11th largest library in the US, and 5th largest university library with more than 8 million volumes. Anyway, they have a nice collection of old maps of cities from all over the US and around the world.

Here's the link:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historic_us_cities.html

This is Austin's 1839 map that was designed by Edwin Waller. He was the first mayor of Austin and the man who designed Austin's grid system. He was also a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

http://shoalcreektx.org/shoal-creek/themes/way-west/

1920 map of Central Austin.

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historic_us_cities.html

Jonboy1983 · #2 Posted **Mar 5, 2013, 11:09 PM**

Sorry for the massive size of this map, but here is one of my hometown.

I've seen a hard copy of an 1830 map of Pittsburgh. Back then, either Grant Street or Ross Street served as the municipal boundary along with the three rivers. Hard to believe everything beyond there was considered open space...

vid · #3 Posted **Mar 5, 2013, 11:34 PM**

Thunder Bay is composed of Port Arthur and Fort William, both settled in the 1880s.

Port Arthur, 1891

Fort William, 1913

Like many land survey maps of this type, many of those streets never got developed. The left half of the Port Arthur map was only about a third developed (and a new street runs through it on a funny angle), and in the Fort William map, much of what is shown on the left half wasn't built until the 1950s.

ColDayMan · #4 Posted **Mar 6, 2013, 12:41 AM**

Cincinnati in 1880:

http://images.statemaster.com/

fflint · #5 Posted **Mar 6, 2013, 1:27 AM**

Check out a pre-bridge Bay Area, 1915: Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Key System commuter trains ran far out into the Bay on piers, where passengers would then transfer to ferry boats for the final leg of their journey to downtown SF:

LeeWilson · #6 Posted **Mar 6, 2013, 1:37 AM**

Edo, c. 1657

Closeup:

(http://collegio.jp/?page_id=154)

KevinFromTexas · #7 Posted **Mar 6, 2013, 4:06 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by fflint

Check out a pre-bridge Bay Area, 1915: Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Key System commuter trains ran far out into the Bay on piers, where passengers would then transfer to ferry boats for the final leg of their journey to downtown SF:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/histo...cisco_1915.jpg

That's pretty amazing they did that.

TarHeelJ · #8 Posted **Mar 19, 2013, 11:06 PM**

Atlanta 1900

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/histo...ta_ga_1919.jpg

LMich · #9 Posted **Mar 20, 2013, 8:02 AM**

Lansing, Michigan - Early 1860's

Lansing Township Early 1860's by NewCityOne, on Flickr

The tiny settlement had been around since 1837, chosen as the capital in 1847, but hadn't incorporated as a city until 1859. The square township is 6 miles by 6 miles (36 square miles), and the city original incorporated 7 square miles of that (you can see the square city boundaries labeled "corporation line" if you look closely). The entire township has since been developed, almos all of it as the city of Lansing, and a few small sections as the city of East Lansing. The city, today, is approximately 36 square miles, with small parts of having incorporated lands in two or three neighboring townships.

hammersklavier · #10 Posted **Mar 20, 2013, 11:29 AM**

Philadelphia's famous Thomas Holme survey, ca. 1683:

Source

Alon · #11 Posted **Mar 22, 2013, 3:53 AM**

The zoning maps for Tel Aviv's Old North, from the 1920s:

http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A7%..._Aviv_1925.jpg

http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A7%...v_map_1931.jpg

The areas south and southwest of the depicted region, Jaffa and the first neighborhoods of Tel Aviv, were already developed by then.

Matthew · #12 Posted **Mar 23, 2013, 5:07 AM**

Winston-Salem from 1763

Source: Moravian Archives

How many circular maps do you see? I thought everyone may find this one interesting. It was the original plan for Winston-Salem, designed by Austrian nobleman Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf in the mid 1700s. Yes, it is round. A very unusual plan for a city.

Original Plan for Winston-Salem in the mid 1700s This plan (below) was never used, but is interesting and unusual.

Source: Moravian Archives