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1865 Chase Railroad Map of Boston, Massachusetts and its Vicinity
RailroadMapBostonVicinity-chase-1865$150.00
Title
Rail Road Map of All Street and Steam Railroads in Boston and Vicinity.
1865 (dated) 22 x 26 in (55.88 x 66.04 cm) 1 : 12672
1865 (dated) 22 x 26 in (55.88 x 66.04 cm) 1 : 12672
Description
This is an 1865 Josiah G. Chase railroad map of Boston and vicinity. The map depicts the region from Cambridge and Brighton to East Boston and from Chelsea to Roxbury and Dorchester Bay. Railroad lines in and out of central Boston are illustrated in different colors, allowing the viewer to more easily differentiate between steam railroads and streetcars and between the five different streetcar companies. Major intercity railway lines are labeled, such as the Boston and Maine Railroad, the Fitchburg Railroad, and the Old Colony Railroad. Streetcar companies, known as the Metropolitan, Cambridge, Middlesex, Broadway, and Lynn and Boston Railroads, are all illustrated as well, each of which operated streetcars pulled by horses. Electric streetcars would not arrive in Boston until near the turn of the century. Incredibly detailed, individual streets throughout the region are illustrated and labeled, and churches, public school and buildings, and railroads stations are also indicated. These four different types of structures correspond to a key situated along the right border. Other buildings, such as the lunatic asylum, the Navy Yard, and Harvard University, are labeled on the map itself. Red concentric circles emanating from central Boston mark quarter-mile intervals from the intersection of Tremont, Court, and Cornhill Streets. City wards in both Boston and Cambridge are labeled and shaded different colors to allow for easy differentiation.
Publication History and Census
This map was created and published by Josiah G. Chase and printed by J.H. Bufford in 1865 in Boston. Two examples are catalogued in the OCLC as being part of the collections at the State Library of Massachusetts and the University of Missouri - Saint Louis. An example is also part of the collection at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at Boston Public Library.CartographerS
Josiah G. Chase (December 6, 1819 - July 17, 1903) was an American civil engineer and mapmaker. Born in Atkinson, Maine, Chase was a civil engineer and surveyor who lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts for most of his professional life. He married Susan E. Chase (her maiden name is not known) (c. 1824 - c. 1902) in 1851. Chase published several maps, including a railroad map of Boston and a map of the street rail routes in suburban Boston. More by this mapmaker...
John Henry Bufford (July 27, 1810 - October 8, 1870) was a Boston based lithographer and printer. Bufford was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He apprenticed as an artist and lithographer at Pendleton Lithography (1825 - 1836) of Boston. In 1835 he relocated to New York where he took independent commissions from George Endicott and Nathaniel Currier, among others. Returning to his hometown of Boston in 1839, he took a position of chief artist with the firm of Benjamin W. Thayer, heir to Pendleton Lithography. He probably married Thayer's sister, Anna Melora Tufts Thayer (1808-1878). Bufford has been highly criticized as an engraver, with one historian, David Tatham, stating he had 'a mediocre sort of craftsmanship at best' and 'no very special skills as an original artist.' We, however, find no justification for this harsh criticism. Instead Bufford gravitated toward business and management. By 1844 Thayer's shop was renamed J. H. Bufford and Company. The firm specialized in decorative sheet music, panoramic views, illustrations for books, retractions of paintings, and commercial printing. Bufford is credited with being one of the first employers and mentors of the important artist and engraver Winslow Homer. Bufford died in 1870, passing on the business to his sons Frank G. Bufford and John Henry Bufford Jr. These young men, operating under the imprint of 'J.H. Bufford's Sons, Manufacturing Publishers of Novelties in Fine Arts', expanded the firm with offices in New York and Chicago. A possibly related lithographic printing firm named Bufford Chandler was incorporated in Boston in 1893. It later relocated to Concord, New Hampshire but closed in 1925 when its state business charter was repealed. Learn More...
Condition
Good. Even overall toning. Verso repairs to fold separations and at fold intersections. Verso reinforcement to area along right border. Blank on verso.
References
Boston Public Library Normon B. Leventhal Map Center G3764.B6P33 1865 .C4x. OCLC 913849365.