1910 George Eddy Newcomb’s Map Showing the City of Chicago in Relation to Its North Shore Suburbs and Especially Madison Street as a Great Central Highway
DESCRIPTION
By: George Eddy Newcomb
Date: 1910 (dated) Chicago
Dimensions: 27 x 16 inches
This rare pair of early 20th-century planning maps by George Eddy Newcomb captures Chicago at a critical stage of urban expansion and civic ambition. Found in only a few institutional collections, both maps illustrate the city of Chicago in relation to its rapidly growing North Shore suburbs, with a particular emphasis on Madison Street as a central east–west axis and Ashland Avenue as a potential north–south thoroughfare.
The Larger Map
The larger map presents Chicago’s full grid system extending from the downtown Loop through its developing suburban communities. It traces the city’s layout from the urban core to lakefront suburbs such as Wilmette, Winnetka, Highland Park, and Lake Forest. Notable features include the old Indian Boundary Lines of 1819, the Chicago River, the “Drainage Canal,” railways, township ranges, and subdivided land parcels in Chicago’s characteristic grid format. Madison Street is highlighted for its dual importance as a primary east–west corridor and as the baseline dividing Chicago’s north and south address system.
Produced in 1910, the map embodies a pivotal era of civic planning. Chicago was experiencing rapid suburbanization along the North Shore, fueled by commuter rail and streetcar expansion that connected residential areas to downtown. Madison Street and other key routes were at the heart of this transformation, symbolizing the city’s drive toward structured, grid-based growth.
The Smaller Promotional Edition
The smaller companion map, issued the same year, is a reduced version designed for advocacy and distribution. While retaining the essential geographic framework of the larger map, this edition incorporates printed text urging the construction of a “straight street railway extending from Evanston to Englewood along Ashland Avenue, through the Great West Side.” Newcomb’s annotations, including the emphatic “LOOK AT THE MAP!” and explanatory notes, transform the piece into a persuasive visual argument for civic reform and transportation modernization.
This version was likely distributed at planning meetings, civic forums, or among developers and local officials. It served as both a promotional tool and a manifesto, illustrating Newcomb’s belief that Chicago’s growth must extend beyond its congested downtown “Loop” to a decentralized, efficiently connected urban corridor.
Civic Vision and Legacy
Together, these two maps reflect George Eddy Newcomb’s deep engagement with early 20th-century urban planning. His proposals anticipated the logic of later comprehensive plans that sought to unify Chicago’s neighborhoods and suburbs through rational infrastructure. Archival records from the Chicago Plan Commission mention Newcomb’s 1911 document Chicago Replanned, suggesting his active role in shaping contemporary planning debates.
Viewed as a set, the maps offer both a technical visualization of Chicago’s urban framework and a rare artifact of civic advocacy, uniting the precision of a planner’s survey with the persuasive energy of a reformer’s campaign.
Condition: Map is in very fine condition, folded as issued but rests mostly flat with some marginal tears that have been reinforced on the verso with archival tape.
Inventory #13101
CONDITION
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