This month’s featured map was published by the German publishers Wagner & Debes circa 1900.  It likely reflects the high volume of German-Americans residing in Brooklyn at the time.  According to Montrose Morris of Brownstoner, by the end of the 19th century, German Americans were the most successful ethnic group in New York City.  In trying to date this particular map, we looked at the various clubs that are listed in the key at the bottom left, one being the Germania Club.  As Morris notes, the Germania Club was founded in 1859 and was originally located on Atlantic and Court Streets.  As the club grew, it acquired new land in order to build a bigger and better clubhouse that was finished in 1890 and located on Schermerhorn Street near Smith Street.  If you look carefully at the map, you will see that the Germania Club is located on Schermerhorn Street near Smith Street, indicating that the map was published after 1890.

Brooklyn. ca. 1900. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

(Click on the image to see more detail)

Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library’s open hours, Wed.-Fri., from 1-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary to view most maps. Our cataloged maps can be searched through BobCat and our map inventories through Emma.

Map of the Month is part of a project to catalog our map holdings, funded through the Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Collections program. If you would like to help us do more of this kind of work with our exciting map holdings, donate here.

This month’s featured map dates from 1828 and features the “country thirty miles round the city of New York,” including all five boroughs as well as portions of New Jersey, Long Island, and Connecticut. Drawn by J.H. Eddy of New York, this map is a new edition with edits by William Hooker and E. Blunt. While the map shows traditional elements such as roads, topography, and names of landowners (including the Lefferts, Cortelyou, and Vanderveer families in Brooklyn), it also shows more unusual things like taverns. The map appears to have been dedicated to Dewitt Clinton, Governor of New York, who died the same year the map was published.

Map of the country thirty miles round the city of New York. John H. Eddy. 1828. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

Click here to see detail of the Brooklyn section of the map.

Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library’s open hours, Wed.-Fri., from 1-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary to view most maps. Our cataloged maps can be searched through BobCat and our map inventories through Emma.

Map of the Month is part of a project to catalog our map holdings, funded through the Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Collections program. If you would like to help us do more of this kind of work with our exciting map holdings, donate here.

This month’s featured map shows a plan for the Parade Ground, laid out just south of Prospect Park. Parade grounds served a significant purpose in the 19th century by providing large expanses of land where the military could conduct drills and exercises. Originally, the park’s designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux proposed that the park’s parade ground be located in East New York, but they later settled on an area south of the park. Completed in 1869, about two years after the park opened to the public, the Parade Ground served the military’s needs while protecting the grasses of the Long Meadow from the stress of repeated drills. In the early 2000s, the Parade Ground was transformed into a series of athletic complexes, including tennis courts and baseball fields.

Plan for the Parade Ground, proposed to be laid out for Kings County, L.I. ca. 1860s. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

(Click on the image to see more detail)

Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library’s open hours, Wed.-Fri., from 1-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary to view most maps. Our cataloged maps can be searched through BobCat and our map inventories through Emma.

Map of the Month is part of a project to catalog our map holdings, funded through the Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Collections program. If you would like to help us do more of this kind of work with our exciting map holdings, donate here.

This month’s featured map was created by the Ohman Map Co., a New York-based map company located at 258 Broadway,  in the early 1900s. One of only a handful of maps in the BHS Collection to show ethnic communities in Brooklyn, it features various groups, from Europeans to African Americans to people of mixed heritage. It is clear from this map that early 20th century Brooklyn was a diverse community of people, just as it is today.

Map of the borough of Brooklyn : showing location and extent of racial colonies. Ohman Map Co. Inc. ca. 1920. Brooklyn Historical Society Map Collection.

Click here to view the map key.

Click here to view detail from the map (Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant).

Interested in seeing more maps? You can view the BHS map collection anytime during the library’s open hours, Wed.-Fri., from 1-5 p.m. No appointment is necessary to view most maps. Our cataloged maps can be searched through BobCat and our map inventories through Emma.

Map of the Month is part of a project to catalog our map holdings, funded through the Council on Library and Information Resources Hidden Collections program. If you would like to help us do more of this kind of work with our exciting map holdings, donate here.