San Francisco, California, 1849 – Vintage Map Wall Art
(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
Step back in time with San Francisco, California, 1849, an antique map rich in period detail. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.
The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
San Francisco, California, 1849
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San Francisco in 1849 was a boomtown, its population swelling by the day as gold seekers passed through the Golden Gate on their way to the Sierra diggings. Hundreds of vessels sat abandoned in the harbor after their crews deserted for the goldfields, and some hulls were stripped and reused as storehouses, offices, and lodging. Canvas tents and hastily built frame houses crowded the hillside streets, and lumber, flour, and water commanded steep prices. Fire was a constant threat in the wooden town, and a major blaze that December destroyed much of the business district, prompting residents to rebuild with brick and stone where they could. To people back east, the city was already the gateway to gold.
| Created / published | 1849 |
|---|---|
| Notes | An original bird's-eye view map of San Francisco, California, drawn in 1849. 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--California |
| Source | Library of Congress |
| Original scan | 6,011 × 7,587 px · prints to 20 × 25 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-OYK-487890 |
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