1888 New Map of the City of Buffalo
By: Matthews, Northrup & Co.
Date: 1888 (dated) Buffalo, NY
Dimensions: 18.5 x 12 inches (47 x 30.5 cm)
A rare, late 19th century folding map of Buffalo, New York, locally published by Matthews, Northrup & Co. WorldCat notes just two other examples of this map, held in the Wisconsin Historical Society Library and the Buffalo History Museum.
The map is color coded by ward boundaries, street car lines, and public lands that include parks cemeteries and the New York Insane Asylum which was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and the famed landscape team of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Railroad lines are delineated throughout the map in black lines with stations marked by dots.
Buffalo was originally named by an 18th century British military engineer after Buffalo Creek, which feeds into Lake Erie just below the city. From the early migrants traveling to what was once the Connecticut Western Reserve, followed by the link to Albany (and the Atlantic) formed by the Erie Canal, black slaves crossing into Ontario, Canada via the Underground Railroad, and eventually a network of railroads Buffalo was for much of its early history. a terminus for many travelers, goods, and raw material coming from the east and south.
The map only covers about 1/4 of the printed area of the sheet. The other half of the sheet and verso is comprised of a map of the Falls of Niagara and Vicinity and advertisements for Matthews, Northrup, & Co., the Michigan Central Railroad and its connection to Niagara Falls from Rochester. The verso features four additional advertisements as well as a map of the state of New York.
Condition: This map is in B+ condition, issued folded, now flat with two short tears that have been repaired on the verso.
Inventory #12516
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