1913 Slattery / Army Corps of Engineers Chart of Key West

Colonel John R. Slattery (January 31, 1877 - September 23, 1932) was an American engineer, Army officer, and public servant. Born in Athens, Ohio, Slattery attended and graduated from public schools in Cincinnati before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from West Point in 1900, was commissioned a second lieutenant, and entered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He spent the next 25 years in the Corps of Engineers. He spent 3 years in charge of the Honolulu district in Hawaii, where he worked on coastal defense plans and ways to improve the Honolulu and Hilo harbors. Then he worked on several projects in Kansas before being sent to Florida to oversee coastal defenses at Key West and Tampa Bay as well as improvements to rivers and harbors throughout the state. He also worked as the district manager of the Mississippi Delta region during his career, overseeing levee and bank revetment work. During World War I Slattery served with the 312th Engineers in Bordeaux, France, where he was in charge of coordinating the handling of supplies and the hospitalization of troops. After returning to the United States, he was assigned to the Seventh Army Corps (in charge of Columbia River improvements) as chief engineer. He became district engineer in charge of all river and harbor improvements in New York State in 1923. While in New York, he was convinced to join the New. York City Board of Transportation, which he joined on April 1, 1925, as deputy chief engineer. He also became general manager of the Independent Rapid Transit System. He was general manager when the Eighth Avenue Subway opened and his doctor stated that overwork dealing with the opening of the Eighth Avenue Subway directly caused Slattery's death. He married Elizabeth Bradley, with whom he had three children. More by this mapmaker...

Norris Peters (c. 1834 – July 15, 1889) was a Washington D.C. based photo-lithographer active in the late 18th and early 19th century whom Scientific American called 'one of Washington's most eccentric and mysterious figures.' Peters was born and educated in Pennsylvania. He relocated as a young man to Washington D.C. where he took work as an examiner for the United States Patent Office. During his work with the patent office he became fascinated with the emergent process of photolithography. In 1869 Peters secured substantial venture capital of about 100,000 USD from an unknown investor and founded The Norris Peters Company at 458 Pennsylvania Avenue. Their printing offices have been described as 'unequaled in this or any other country.' From these office Peters pioneered development of American photo-lithography. For nearly a generation he held a near monopoly on government photo-lithographic printing. Among their more notable contracts included numerous maps for congressional reports, maps of the U.S. Coast Survey, maps of the U.S. Geological Survey, Mexican currency for the State of Chihuahua, and the Official Gazette of the Patent Office. Peters also maintained an interesting social life and was a confidant to many of the most powerful figures in congress. He was also a bon vivant known for being an excellent cook and hosting lavish dinners the invitations to which were 'never declined'. Despite being socially active he never married and died a confirmed bachelor. Following Peters' death in 1889 his business was taken over by Henry Van Arsdale Parsell who administered it until his own death in 1901. The company then merged with Webb & Borcorselski, another D.C. lithography firm, and was renamed Webb & Borcorselski-Norris Peters. They continued to publish under this name well into the mid 20th century. Learn More...