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Before photography, artists created detailed maps of cities across the United States. Many of these maps are today available through the Library of Congress American Memory, including maps of Moline for the years 1869, 1873 and 1889.
According to the Library of Congress, "the panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Known also as bird's-eye views, perspective maps, and aero views, panoramic maps are nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle. Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective."
Through American Memory, you will find larger views of these panoramic maps, as well as software which allows you to zoom in so far that you can see the horses in the streets!
Return to Historic Moline Index.
