1876 Hills-Disturnell City Map or Plan of New York City

John Disturnell (1801-1877) was a New York book and map publisher operating gin the early to middle 19th century. Disturnell worked with various engravers and cartographers over the years including Calvin Smith, J. H. Young, and G. E. Sherman as well as the Ensign, Bridgeman and Fanning group. His primary focus seems to have been New York and vicinity, however, his most significant contribution to U.S. history came from the opposite side of the continent. When Nicholas P. Trist was sent to Mexico to negotiate the 1847 Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo which defined the Mexican-American border at the end of the Mexican-American War, he carried with him Disturnell's Map of America. This map, among other inaccuracies, located El Paso a whopping 34 miles north and 100 miles east of its true location. Since Trist based the border treaty on mileages from El Paso, the obvious subsequent confusion lead to the conflicts that were to follow. The border problems between the United States and Mexico that resulted from this error were not resolved until 1963. More by this mapmaker...

John Calvin Smith (1809 – June 11, 1890) was an American surveyor and geographer active in New York during the middle part of the 19th century. He was a charter member of the American Geographical and Statistical Society (American Geographical Society). He worked with other important New York cartographers including John Disturnell, George Sherman, and Samuel Stiles, with whom he often published under the Stiles, Sherman & Smith imprint. Stiles may have introduced Smith to J. H. Colton, who acquired many of his map plates in 1853. Most of Smith's maps focus on New York counties, but he also issued maps of the United States, Illinois, Texas, and the California gold fields. Despite being an important and prolific cartographer, much of his personal life and history are shrouded in mystery. Learn More...

Snyder and Black (1845 - c.1968) was a publishing firm based in New York City. It began publishing maps as early as 1845 from their offices at 87 Fulton Street. By 1876, the company had moved its operations to 92 William Street in New York, and would later buy a building at 200 William Street. The New York Department of Commerce honored Snyder and Black in 1952 along with over 250 other companies that had been in New York since their founding. Snyder and Black was mentioned often in the New York Times Advertising column as a point-of-sale specialist between 1947 and 1968. By March 1960, however, the company is referred to by the New York Times in that same Advertising column as Snyder and Black and Schlegel. Learn More...