1912 Hammond Birds Eye View Map of New York City and Vicinity

New York's Steamboat Era: The floating palaces.

This is a scarce 1912 chromolithograph C. S. Hammond map and view of New York City and vicinity, issued as a souvenir for steamship travelers to and from New York City. The map captures New York at the height the 'floating palace' regional steamboat era.

A Closer Look

This bird's-eye view extends from Ellis Island to Huntington Bay and from Yonkers to Jamaica Bay, covering all of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and adjacent parts of New Jersey, Westchester, Connecticut, and Nassau County (Long Island). Red tinting and identifiable buildings identify more developed parts of the city, including most of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and parts of the Bronx. Major buildings and monuments such as the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Naval Yard, East River bridges, Penn Station, Grand Central Station, City Hall, and Central Park, among others, are rendered in profile.

Updated Terminals and Routes

The view's most eye-catching feature is the undulating red steamship route extending from the Hudson River pier of the Fall River Line and the Maine S.S. Company, up the East River and Long Island Sound to leave the map. This differs from the 1909 edition of this map, whose terminus for this route was at the pier of the French Line. Close scrutiny reveals that the steamship lines underwent no fewer than ten alterations, with some lines being moved to different piers, some being added, and some removed altogether.

The Steam Ship Age in New York

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, New York City was the hub of an extensive network of coastal and inland steamship routes that connected it to New England and beyond, making regional travel both efficient and surprisingly elegant. Lines such as the Fall River Line, the Norwich Line, and the New Haven Line operated famous overnight steamboat services from Manhattan piers to destinations like Fall River, Providence, and New Haven, where passengers could seamlessly transfer to rail connections for Boston and other cities. These vessels, often called 'floating palaces,' offered private cabins, dining salons, and refined amenities, turning routine travel into a genteel experience. Departing in the evening and arriving at dawn, they were a preferred alternative to rail, combining comfort with practicality. The waterfront along the East River bustled nightly with departures, reflecting a time when steamship lines were an essential part of the region's transportation infrastructure and a defining feature of New York's maritime culture.

Publication History and Census

This map's first state appeared in 1909; this second state, exhibiting the abovementioned alterations, appeared in 1912. We are aware of a monochrome edition issued in 1925. All examples are extremely scarce, with only three or four examples being cited in institutional collections.

Cartographer

Caleb Stillson Hammond (1862 - 1929) was the founder of C. S. Hammond & Company, a map making and printing firm based in Brooklyn, New York. Hammond started his career in mapmaking as the head of Rand McNally's offices in New York City, where he began working in 1894. Hammond split with Rand McNally, forming his own printing concern in Brooklyn, New York, in 1900. The firm was subsequently incorporated in 1901 and relocated to Manhattan, and then to Maplewood, New Jersey, near Hammond's family home. Hammond rose to become one of the largest cartographic publishers in the United States, second only to Rand McNally in volume. On his retirement, C. S. Hammond passed the firm to his son, who subsequently passed it to his own son, C. D. Hammond, who sold the company to Langenscheidt Publishers in 1999. The firm has since been folded into Universal Map, an affiliate of Kappa Publishing Group. This archives of the Hammond World Atlas Corporation, an invaluable resource, where donated to the Library of Congress in 2002.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good. Original fold lines. Folds into original paper binder.

References

New York Public Library, Map Division, Map Div. 08-1547. Rumsey 5434.001 (1909 edition).