Visualize the Geographic History of New York City Through These Awesome Vintage Maps

by Joshua Mu

on Jun. 22, 2016 at 11:24 AM

at 11:24 AM on June 22, 2016

The New York Public Library has a vast collection of high resolution public domain images available for free download through their incredible digital portal.

Our friends at TimeOut spent some time poking around the digital collection and found these fascinating vintage maps, depicting various areas of New York City ranging from pre-colonial times to the early 20th century. Enjoy!

Vingboons map of Manhattan, 1639: a facsimile from the Library of Congress

Map of the progress of His Majesty's armies in New York during the late campaign: illustrating the accounts publish'd in the London Gazette (1776)

Map of New York l: with the adjacent rocks and other remarkable parts of Hell-Gate (1778)

The Great metropolis in 1804

Green-wood cemetery (1846)

Map of the City of Williamsburg with part of Greenpoint (1852)

Design for Laying out the Grounds Known as Fort Green or Washington Park, in the City of Brooklyn (1867)

Auction Sale of the Est. of Lewis Gouverneur Morris at Morris Heights, Bronx Borough NYC... 175 Lots (1910)

Map of the New York world's fair and approaches (1939)

Industrial map of New York City: showing manufacturing industries, concentration, distribution, character

Joshua Mu

Contributing Writer

When he is not attempting to hustle the hustlers of Central Park, Joshua enjoys exploring the depths of what New York has to offer. He one day hopes to pilot a drone without immediately crashing it.

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