Panoramic Maps
A panoramic map of Brockville, drawn
by Herman Brosius in 1874
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, panoramic
maps were a popular way to show cities and towns. Also known as
bird’s-eye-views and perspective maps, they tried to show what the town
would look like as seen obliquely from the air. Streets, individual
buildings and landscape features appeared in perspective, although not
generally drawn to scale.
Perspective drawings date back to the Renaissance in
Europe during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, but
were generally drawn from relatively low angles, as actually viewed by
the artist from a hill or tall building. Panoramic maps made during the
mid- to late-nineteenth century, on the other hand, depicted the view
from several thousand feet in the air, much higher than was accessible
to the artist at the time. Who did these careful drawings, how were
they done and why?
To make each drawing, the artist prepared a frame or
projection showing the pattern of the streets in perspective, using any
available town maps. He then spent considerable time walking the
streets of the town, sketching buildings, trees and other features from
the predetermined direction. The day’s sketches were then transferred
to the frame using a drafting technique called isometric projection.
This process might take a few days for a small town, to several weeks
for a large city. The actual final drawing was generally made
elsewhere, probably at the artist’s home studio. The drawing then was
taken to the publisher’s for printing.
Most panoramic maps were published independently, not as
part of an atlas or geographical book, as were the earlier
illustrations. Town governments and chambers of commerce commissioned
them to promote commercial and residential growth. Often the maps would
include details of specific features within inset panels, such as
government buildings, railways, bridges or other developments, to show
the area’s potential. Sometimes the special feature had not yet been
constructed or completed at the time the map was made. Too, the map’s
legend generally contained a list of major features in the area,
prominent buildings and other landmarks.
Financing for the project often came from a number of
sources: advance subscriptions, fees to businesses listed in the legend
or on the map itself, paid advertising and sales of the finished
prints. Generally the printer or publisher made the arrangements, often
with the artist as sales agent. The artists were on the road
constantly, producing several drawings a year. We have no information
to indicate how much they earned for their efforts.
The number of artists doing this kind of work is not known
precisely, but has been estimated to be about fifty during the heyday
of panoramic maps in the late nineteenth century. Some of the prominent
names in the field are Albert Ruger, Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler, Lucien
R. Burleigh, Henry Wellge, Eli S. Glover and Oakley H. Bailey. A number
of them worked in Canada, as well as the United States. Ruger, for
example, made panoramic maps of Charlottetown and Summerside in P.E.I.,
both of which are in Library and Archives Canada’s collection.
The Brockville panoramic map was drawn in 1874 by Herman
Brosius, an American who is known to have done similar maps of
Brantford (1875), Peterborough (1875), Ottawa (1876) and St. Thomas
(1896?), as well as many American cities.
A panoramic map of Ottawa, drawn by
Herman Brosius in 1876 (from Library and Archives Canada)
Bob
Stesky
Sources: Library and Archives Canada;
United States Library of Congress; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth,
Texas.