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1940 Hagstrom City Plan or Map of Brooklyn, New York, and Vicinity
Brooklyn-hagstrom-1940
Title
1940 (undated) 29.375 x 24.75 in (74.6125 x 62.865 cm) 1 : 24000
Description
Dating This Map
When dating this map, we used several different references to help narrow down a range. Two important mentions that place this map firmly in the 1930s is the presence of the U.S. Coast Guard on Floyd Bennet Field and the fact that Spring Creek Park is referred to as simply having been proposed. Spring Creek Park was not approved until 1942, even though it was proposed as early as 1930. The presence of the Queens-Midtown Tunnel allows for a smaller date range, since it didn't receive the green light until May 1935 and construction didn't begin until October 1936. The tunnel opened on November 15, 1940, making a c. 1940 date our best assessment.Publication History
This map was created and published by the Hagstrom Company c. 1940.Cartographer
Andrew Gunnar Hagstrom (1890 - September 24, 1977) was a map publisher based in Maspeth, Queens. Hagstrom was a Swedish immigrant who came to new York in 1909 where took work milking cows at a farm near Coney Island, Brooklyn. He then worked in the meat packing industry while taking a degree in commercial art at the New York Mechanics Institute. Afterwords he founded a drafting business in Manhattan, creating a map to illustrate his drafting skill help customers locate his shop. His map proved popular and he expanded operations, founding the Hagstrom Map Company (1916 - 1968) and issuing additional maps of various parts of New York City and the surrounding regions. By 1949, Hagstrom had issued more than 150 maps, guides, and atlases, most of which focused on New York. Hagstrom pioneered a cartographic style that exaggerated street size to increase clarity and create additional room for large print readable labeling. Even the New York Subway system hired Hagstrom to produce its map, which was in use from the 1940s to 1958. Hagstrom died in 1977, at the age of 81. Hagstrom was knighted by the King of Sweden. His company flourished until 1968 when it was acquired by Macmillan. The brand has since passed through multiple corporate portfolios and is currently the property by Kappa Publishing Group. More by this mapmaker...