WELCOME 1870'S Pennsylvania Maps WELCOME

Maps with printed color began to appear in this decade, although hand coloring continued for another 20 years and most of the maps shown here are hand colored.

Lackawanna County with the county seat at Scranton became the 67th and last county created in 1878.


1870 PENNSYLVANIA, entered according to act of Congress in the year 1870 by S. Augustus Mitchell Jr...., drawn and engraved by W. H. Gamble, Philadelphia. Gamble was a noted engraver and his name appears on many maps from the late 1800's. This hand colored map is page 25 from a Mitchell atlas, the date on the bottom has been overprinted, so an older map was just printed with a new date. Note how the map overlays the border. Longitude from Washington at bottom, west from Greenwich at top. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 23 miles. Size: 11.5 x 14 inches.
1871 ANDERSON'S RAIL ROAD MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, published by J. L. Smith, No. 27 South Sixth Street, Phila. Successor to R. L. Barnes. This large map folds into a 6 X 4 inch black cover with the above name. The title on the map is MAP OF THE RAILROADS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND PARTS OF ADJOINING STATES 1871, prepared from official data by J. A. Anderson, Supt. of the Belvidere Delaware Rail Road. Lith. Jas. McGuigan, Phila. The railroads are marked with red lines laid down on a black & white map using a stencil, and only towns along rail lines are named. A small section of western Pennsylvania is shown in one view and a larger part of the east in another . Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 8 miles. Size: 28 x 39 inches.
1872 MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR SMULL'S HAND BOOK, Eng. & Printed by Benj. Singerly State Printer, No. 22 South Third St. Harrisb. This black and white undated map can be dated 1860-78 by the counties shown. It is a later version of the Smull hand book map shown for 1867, although this map has nothing to do with Colton. Apparently prepared by Singerly, it is finely printed on thin paper with rail lines, canals, and roads in good detail; mountains are indicated in shaded relief and there is a decorative border. Smull’s legislative hand book was given annually to state representatives and senators from about 1867 to 1922 and printings were limited to a few thousand copies. This map is likely from an early 1870’s edition and is dated circa 1872 here. Singerly & Myers were state printers in 1867 and B.F. Meyer was the state printer by 1875, so this map certainly dates 1868-74. A map like this was seen in an 1872 copy, so this dating is fairly certain. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 14 miles. Size: 13.5 x 22 inches.
1873 BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF HIGHSPIRE DUPHIN CO. PENNSYLVANIA 1873, drawn by H. Brosius, published by J. J. Stoner, Madison, Wis. A numbered table identifies buildings shown. Dauphin Co. is misspelled. This is one of the famous bird's eye views which are sometimes called maps. This one does not appear in Stout's otherwise comprehensive Union Catalog of Pennsylvania town views, where 324 different views are listed. The Library of Congress has a large collection of Pennsylvania panoramic town maps, 205 of them (but not this one), on display at Panoramic Maps Collection. Another large collection is in the state archives. Blank verso. Size: 17 x 21 inches.
1874 ASHER & ADAMS PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY , entered in the year 1874 by Asher & Adams... This hand colored map is pages 23 & 24 probably from Asher & Adams Commercial and Statistical Gazetteer of the United States (LeGear L55). The map includes southern New York, and northern West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. The western section of the state is shown in one view and the eastern in another. Longitude from Washington at bottom, west from Greenwich at top. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 20 miles. Size: 16 x 23 inches.
1875 WATSON'S NEW COUNTY, RAILROAD AND DISTANCE MAP, OF PENNSYLVANIA, AND NEW JERSEY, page 9 from an atlas by Gaylord Watson, probably Watson's New Commercial County and Railroad Atlas of the United States and Dominion of Canada, New York 1875. The map also includes southern New York and northern Maryland and Delaware. The rail lines are shown by heavy black line. This map may hold the Pennsylvania record for density of town names, there is scarcely an open spot on it. No longitude marks, blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 22 miles. Size: 12 x 16 inches.
1876 GRAY'S RAILROAD AND COUNTY MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, entered according to act of Congress in the year 1874 by O. W. Gray...., copyright 1876 by O. W. Gray. Rail lines are shown with some towns, especially those along the rails, on this hand colored map shown here with east and west images. This map, in various versions, was used by several county atlas publishers. Longitude west from Greenwich. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 12.5 miles. Size: 14.5 x 24 inches.
1877 PENNSYLVANIA, from A Geography of Pennsylvania by Charles R. Coffin, published by Sheldon & Co., New York. This map has printed color and part of the sheet is filled with text; the verso has the title, author, and date given above. Luzerne and Lackawanna county are not differentiated by color, but Lackawanna County (established 1878) is indicated, so the color printing process was not corrected. Coffin's contribution was an insert in an edition of Colton's Common School Geography published after 1878. Scale: 1 inch = 20 miles. Size: 15 x 9 inches.
1878 PITTSBURGH & WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA: COAL & COKE FIELDS, OIL REGIONS & LOCATION OF NATURAL GAS WELLS & GAS MAINS LEADING TO PITTSBURGH. Issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh. Otto Krebs Lith. This map is of uncertain date, but is likely circa 1875-80. It shows the western half of the state east to Altoona. Rail lines are indicated and mountains by hatching, with many towns along the rails also named. Krebs was active from about 1870 to 1890 and printed (or rather lithographed) several of the classic county atlases. Scale: 1 inch = 6.5 miles. Size: 28 x 19 inches.
1879 RAILROAD & COUNTY MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA , prepared for the annual report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs of Pennsylvania, (Part IV) for the year 1879. Only towns lying along rail lines are shown on this hand colored map, rivers are shown but not mountains or roads. Only the northwest section of the state is shown here. Longitude from Washington at top, west from Greenwich at bottom. Blank verso. Scale: 1 inch = 12 miles. Size: 15 x 24 inches.
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