1903 Bureau of Soils Map of New York City, Nassau County, Long Island

A colorful 1903 soil map of New York City and Nassau County, produced by the Bureau of Soils. It provides tremendous detail on the lands in and around the city, crucial information in the fact of break-neck urban development and industrialization.

A Closer Look

Coverage includes Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Nassau County, and parts of New Jersey and Westchester County. A wide variety of soil types are indicated, much of it sandy or gravely, in the latter case brought by glaciers late in the Last Ice Age. Elevation marked by hachures can be seen throughout the city below the street grid, including in cemeteries and parks. Aside from soil information, streets, neighborhoods, parks, cemeteries, reservoirs, railroads (especially the various branches of the Long Island Railroad), aqueducts, bridges (though not the Williamsburg Bridge, opened in 1903), administrative boundaries, and other features are illustrated.

The Consolidated Metropolis

Aside from its value as a soil map, this map demonstrates the state of urban sprawl at the time, which was proceeding rapidly. In 1898, New York City as we know it came into existence by consolidating New York (Manhattan and the Bronx) with Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island to form the City of New York. At the time, most of Upper Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and portions of Brooklyn further from Manhattan, such as East New York and Bensonhurst, had been sparsely inhabited. However, as can be seen here, these areas quickly become heavily developed at the turn of the century, with new city blocks and entire neighborhoods sprouting from the ground in mere months if not weeks. Detailed information on the soils on which these new structures would be built was critical for ensuring the safety and sturdiness of the growing city.

Publication History and Census

This map was produced by the Bureau of Soils using U.S. Geological Survey maps as a base. It is dated 1901 at bottom-right but is noted as having been surveyed in 1903 by a team led by Jay Bonsteel. The map was printed by August Hoen in Baltimore. It is noted among the holdings of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Syracuse University, Brigham Young University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.