Tacoma, Washington, 1878 – Historic Map Reproduction
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Tacoma, Washington, 1878 comes to life in this antique map, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
Library of Congress record: View of new Tacoma and Mount Rainier, Puget Sound, Washington Territory
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Tacoma, Washington, 1878
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Tacoma, Washington, in 1878 was a small waterfront settlement on Commencement Bay, an arm of Puget Sound, and its future rested on a railroad decision made only a few years earlier. In 1873 the Northern Pacific Railroad chose the bay as the western terminus of its line across the northern plains and mountains, and the promise of that connection drew land speculators, merchants, and new families to the shore. Lumber was the town's first industry, with sawmills and wharves turning the forests of the surrounding county into cargo for ships on the Sound. Growth was slow and uneven during this period, because the railroad's financial troubles stalled construction and many lots sat empty. The town was still close-knit, and residents would have known it mainly as a place of mills, muddy streets, and the hope that the railroad would soon make it a major port.
| Created / published | 1878 |
|---|---|
| Creator | a.l. bancroft & company, glover, e. s. (eli sheldon) |
| Notes | An original bird's-eye view map of Tacoma, Washington, drawn in 1878. Bird's-eye view maps were drawn by travelling artists who walked a town street by street, sketching every building from an imagined vantage point in the air, then sold the finished lithograph door to door by subscription. Roughly five thousand American towns were recorded this way between the 1860s and the 1920s, and for many of them the panoramic map is the most complete picture of the place that survives. Reproduced from the original in the Library of Congress collections. Printed to order on archival paper. Free shipping on all US orders. |
| Subjects | Panoramic maps--Washington |
| Source | Library of Congress, Panoramic Maps |
| Original scan | 7,744 × 5,216 px · prints to 26 × 17 in at 300 dpi |
| Library of Congress title | View of new Tacoma and Mount Rainier, Puget Sound, Washington Territory |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-OYK-491301 |
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