1873 Crosby Lithograph, Hinkley Locomotive Works, Boston, Massachusetts

A rare and gorgeous c. 1873 lithograph of a steam locomotive, advertising the Hinkley Locomotive Works, printed by C. H. Crosby and Company in Boston. It was produced in the heyday of railroad construction in the United States, coinciding with the westward territorial expansion of the country.

A Closer Look

A colorful representation of a Hinkley steam locomotive and tender on the rails near a small pond, whose waters reflect the steam engine. Interestingly, the dirt to the left in the foreground partially obscures the first part of the title. An elaborate design with the initials of the company appears in the corners.

The Hinkley Locomotive Works

Founded as the Boston Machine Works by Holmes Hinkley and Daniel F. Child in 1831, the firm, which changed names frequently, noted here as the Hinkley Locomotive Works, was one of the first in Massachusetts to produce steam engines. Initially, these were stationary steam engines for use in mills and factories, but by 1840 the company moved on to locomotives, and came to be known as the premier purveyor of locomotives in New England.

The company suffered in the fallout from the Panic of 1857, was foreclosed on, and Hinkley himself was forced out, but returned several years later and briefly led it to revived fortunes during the U.S. Civil War. Nevertheless, the Hinkley Locomotive Company went bankrupt in the Reconstruction Era and closed permanently in 1889. The Maine State Museum houses the Lion, built by Hinkley in 1846, the oldest known American-built locomotive in New England.

Publication History and Census

This print was drawn by the artist Dominick Drummond and lithographed by C. H. Crosby and Company. Though not indicated here, it is dated to 1873 in institutional catalogs and in any event was printed no earlier than 1872, when Crosby's company took on the name used here. Its only known institutional holdings are with the Boston Athenaeum, the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth University, and the Huntington Library.