1871 Walling and Gray Map of Boston

Henry Francis Walling (June 11, 1825 - April 8, 1889) was an American civil engineer, cartographer, surveyor, and map publisher active from the middle to late 19th century. Walling was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He studied / worked at the Providence Athenaeum before discovering a talent for mathematics and surveying. Walling took a position with Samuel Barrett Cushing (1846 - 1888), a Providence based civil engineer with whom he issued in 1846 a revision of James Steven's Topographical Map of the State of Rhode-Island. Walling established himself independently around 1850 and immediately began preparing a series of town plans focusing on Bristol County, near Providence. Buoyed by popular interest in his plans, Walling expanded his operations to Massachusetts where, by 1857, he had produced no less than 50 town plans. Apparently Walling's business model involved a contract with town officials to produce a certain number of maps after which he acquired the right to print and sell additional copies on his own account. This work eventually led to Walling's appointment as Massachusetts "Superintendent of the State Map", a designation that begins appearing on his maps around 1855. While Walling's work focused heavily on city and county maps, he did successfully publish three scarce state maps: Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. In 1856 Walling relocated his headquarters to New York City where he had better access to quality lithographers. The Civil War (1862 - 1865) proved difficult for Walling and diminished sales may have forced him into a partnership with Ormando W. Gray, with whom he published numerous state, county, and national atlases in the 1860s and 1870s. Around 1880 Walling took a post with the U.S. Coast Survey with whom he worked on various charts until requesting a transfer in 1883 to the newly formed U.S. Geological Survey. Walling remained with the Geological Survey until his untimely death of a heart attack in April of 1889. More by this mapmaker...

Ormando Wyllis Gray (March 3, 1829 – July 6, 1912) was a mid to late 19th century map publisher with offices in New York City, Philadelphia, PA, and Danielsonville, Connecticut. Born in Townshend, Vermont, he attended Norwich College where he studied civil engineering and became a civil engineer and surveyor. Gray's first commercial atlas was an 1869 survey of Windhamd and Toland counties, Connecticut. His most important work seems to have been done in conjunction with other, more prominent map publishers, including Henry Walling and G.W. and C.B. Colton. Gray is best known for his state and county atlases, though did, with his sons, also independently issue at least two national atlases in the late 1870s. He retired from the map publishing business in 1890. He died at home in Bernardston, Massachusetts. He married Roxcena L. Arnold in 1851, with whom he had three daughters and one son. Learn More...