1919 Price and Lee City Map or Plan of New Haven, Connecticut

Reshaping Campus and City Alike.

This is a 1919 city plan or map of New Haven, Connecticut, prepared by civil engineer A. B. Hill for the Price and Lee Company. It captures the city in the immediate post-World War I era, when both it and Yale University were undergoing significant changes.

A Closer Look

The map covers New Haven and portions of surrounding towns, naming streets throughout and also listing them in an index at the bottom that corresponds to a grid surrounding the map. Yale University is prominent near the center, while its sports facilities appear on the left. Parks, cemeteries, and public institutions like major government buildings, hospitals, and train stations are also labeled. The numbers of city wards are included, as is the harbor line along the shore of New Haven Harbor. Streetcar (electric railway) lines are traced in bold black lines. Thinner black lines trace interurban railroads, including the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (often known colloquially as 'the New Haven'), formed in 1872 by the merger of the New York and New Haven Railroad with the Hartford and New Haven Railroad.

Historical Context

The period when this map was issued was defined by the reshaping of both Yale University and New Haven more widely. Backed by major financial gifts, most notably a landmark bequest from prominent lawyer and alumnus John William Sterling (1844 - 1918), the university embarked on an ambitious Collegiate Gothic building campaign designed largely by architect James Gamble Rogers (1867 - 1947), himself a Yale alum. The construction of landmark structures like the Yale Bowl (1914), Harkness Tower (1921), and Sterling Memorial Library (1930) redefined the city's skyline. These projects solidified Yale as the central economic, architectural, and cultural anchor of New Haven.

Aside from Yale, New Haven was itself transformed in the early 20th century by industrialization and by its importance for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which had a virtual monopoly over rail transport in southern New England. In particular, the Cedar Hill Yard in the city's northeast, centered on the Cedar Hill Station seen here, developed around it and became one of the busiest rail yards in the U.S. The U.S. entry into World War I and the establishment of the United States Railroad Administration, which briefly nationalized all the country's railroads, saw a $20 million investment in Cedar Hill, which soon expanded to cover more than 2,000 acres on both sides of the Quinnipiac River. The yard was equally important and even busier during World War II, handling some 5,000 rail cars per day. Though traffic declined substantially in the postwar period, the yard still operates today on a diminished scale, handling freight and serving Amtrak, which uses it for maintenance on the Northeast Corridor tracks.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by the Price and Lee Company and printed by Robert A. Welcke in New York City. A map with this title was published in multiple editions between roughly 1878 and 1928, with any individual edition only held by one or two institutions in the OCLC. The present edition is not recorded; the closest match is a 1917 edition held by Yale University.

Cartographers

Albert Banks Hill (May 28, 1847 - January 2, 1930) was a civil engineer active in Connecticut in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, best known for planning the sewage systems of Danbury and New Haven. Hill was born in Redding, Connecticut and educated at local schools before briefly attending a preparatory school and then matriculating at the Sheffield Scientific School (part of Yale University) and completing his degree in 1869. Afterwards, he taught at his alma mater and began working for the City of New Haven, initially as first assistant engineer and then as City Engineer from 1883 to 1892, after which he launched his own private consulting business. This firm employed and trained many students and graduates of the Sheffield Scientific School. In addition to his work in New Haven and Danbury, Hill also helped design the water systems of Greenwich and Litchfield. Aside from his work in water and sewage systems, he also helped lay out New Haven's network of streetcars (electric railways), improved harbors, and designed depot approaches for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Hill also served terms as the Director of the American Society for Civil Engineers and the President of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers. Hill produced several maps of New Haven as well as schematic map of Yale's campus in 1922. After his death, Hill's great-nephew, Orson Hill Marchant (1882-1938), who had been working for Hill since 1904, took over his office with Clarence M. Blair, operating the consulting business as Blair and Marchant, Inc. until Marchant's death.   Further Details...

Price and Lee Company (1873 - c.1977) was a publishing firm founded in in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1973. Among the items published by Price and Lee were directories of New Haven and later maps of American cities.   Further Details...

Robert Alexander Welcke (November 24, 1848 - January 27, 1936) was a photolithographer active in New York in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century. Welcke was born in Wronke, today in Poland, but then part of Prussia. He emigrated to New York City in 1869. After settling, Welcke entered the lithography business with his brother, Edward Welcke, who had arrived a decade earlier. After a split between the brothers during the economic depression of the late 1870s, Robert Welcke continued in business on his own. Welcke's firm, Robert A. Welcke Offset Company, was based at 176 William Street. His corpus ranges from real estate maps of New York and Connecticut to illustrations on Flemish Renaissance interiors to government maps and brochures to decorative sheet music covers. Following Welcke's death, the firm was taken over by his daughter, Olga Welcke, who, alongside William Jugens, managed it until the outbreak of World War II (1939 - 1945).   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. Few marginal mends, wear at folds with very slight loss at junctures.

References

OCLC 971510524 (1917 Ed.).