1910 Matthews-Northrup Map of New England Summer Resorts

This is a decorative c. 1910 Matthews-Northrup map of New England. The map reflects the influence of railroads on the rise of summer resort travel in the early 20th century.

A Closer Look

Coverage embraces from New York City northwards along the Atlantic coast as far as New Brunswick and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and from the Hudson River Valley to the Atlantic Seaboard. Strong red lines highlight the Boston and Maine Railroad, as well as the Maine Central Railroad and the Somerset Railroad. Only a few years later the network expanded to include the 'New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad', and the 'Boston and Albany Railroad', along with several others. Thinner lines trace routes of connecting railroads, while other railroads, electric railways, stage lines, and canals, are illustrated by various notations. An inset map on the lower right highlights 'American Switzerland', the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Boston and Maine Railroad

Commonly known as the 'B and M', the Boston and Maine Railroad was chartered in New Hampshire on June 27, 1835. The firm consolidated several smaller companies, including the 'Andover and Haverhill Railroad' and the 'Boston and Portland Railroad'. It merged with the 'Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts Railroad' in 1842, but retained the 'Boston and Maine' operating name. In the subsequent decades it acquired or leased several other railroads, including the 'Boston and Lowell' (1887), Northern (1884), Connecticut River (1893), 'Concord and Montreal' (1887), and Fitchburg (1900). In 1910 it was acquired by J. P. Morgan's 'New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad'. The firm initially prospered on the development of mill towns throughout New England and later capitalized on tourism from Boston and New York. Nonetheless, the railroad went through a decline during the Great Depression, when most of the New England textile mills closed. Part of the 'Boston and Maine' network remains in operation today under the Pan Am Railways (PAS) brand.

Publication History and Census

This map was published c. 1910 by Matthews Northrup for the 'Boston and Maine Railroad'. The present example is not dated (a rarity for this map series), but it corresponds with the 1910 edition digitized by the Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine. We note two examples of the 'Season 1910' edition cataloged in OCLC: Osher Map Library and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. This map was published in several editions from different years, as late as 1915.