Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1868 – Antique Wall Map
(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
A window into the past: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1868, preserved in this antique map. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.
Library of Congress record: Grand Rapids, Michigan 1868
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Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1868
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Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1868 was a river city built around a long stretch of rapids on the Grand River, which had powered sawmills and flour mills for decades. Lumber was still the town's chief business, with logs floated down from northern pine forests and cut at riverside mills, while a growing number of chair and furniture makers were laying the groundwork for the industry that would later define the city. Only three years had passed since the Civil War ended, and returning veterans went back to work in the shops, mills and stores near the river crossings. Railroad lines by the 1860s linked the town to Lake Michigan and to larger markets, making it easier to ship lumber and manufactured goods out. Residents would have known Grand Rapids first as a busy lumbering town on the river.
| Created / published | 1868 |
|---|---|
| Creator | ruger, a., chicago lithographing co |
| Notes | An original bird's-eye view map of Grand Rapids, Michigan, drawn in 1868. 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--Michigan |
| Source | Library of Congress, Panoramic Maps |
| Original scan | 10,586 × 6,907 px · prints to 35 × 23 in at 300 dpi |
| Library of Congress title | Grand Rapids, Michigan 1868 |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-OYK-489193 |
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