1893 Walker Map of the Coast of Maine
CoastMaineWestern-walker-1893
Title
1893 (dated) 20.75 x 31 in (52.705 x 78.74 cm) 1 : 253440
Description
Bicycling in Maine in the late 19th century
In the late 19th century, bicycling was popular throughout the United States. In Portland alone, there were more than forty bicycle stores by 1896. Dozens of bicycling clubs throughout the state organized tours. In his dissertation Pedaling Vacationland: Bicyclists, Genteel Recreation, and the Maine Landscape, 1878 – 1902, Sam Shupe details the importance of Maine’s bicycling culture and the reputation it gained not just in the northeast but across the country.Publication History and Census
This map was created and published by George H. Walker in 1893. A single example is cataloged in OCLC, part of the institutional collection at Cornell University.Cartographer
George Hiram Walker (January 4, 1852 - November 14, 1927) was a Boston based publisher of books, views, and maps active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Springfield, Vermont, Walker started his life as a dry goods merchant but developed an active interest in publishing during the early 1870s. Walker began publishing in 1878 when he partnered with an unknown New York Firm. Two years later, Walker brought the operation in house by partnering with his brother, Oscar W. Walker, in the opening of a lithography studio at 81 Milk Street, Boston. Shortly thereafter the firm expanded to new offices at 160 Tremont Street, Boston. The Walker brothers produced a large corpus of works, most of which focused on travel and tourism in New England. Walker also established the Walker-Gordon Milk Laboratory with Dr. Thomas Morgan Rotch and Gustave Gordon. This interesting investment was based on the premise that infant deaths could be avoided by providing higher quality milk. The company eventually became a great success, producing a high-quality cow milk that closely resembled human breast milk. In the process the Walker-Gordon laboratory developed many of the dairy health standards that are still with us today. Walker married Irene L. Loud on March 25, 1885. More by this mapmaker...