1894 American Bank Note Railroad Map of the Eastern United States

A rare find, this is the c. 1894 American Bank Note bird's-eye view railroad map of the eastern United States published by the Southern Railway. It cleverly employs the view perspective to focus on the Southern States, particularly Florida, while still showing connections to networks to the north.

A Closer Look

Depicting from New York and Chicago south to Key West and even Havana, bold red lines highlight the railroad networks of the Southern Railway and the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad. The image combines the function of a view and a map - a style pioneered in New England and New York by George H. Walker and Matthews-Northrup.

The map focuses on the Southern Railway and the Florida Central and Peninsular Railway, detailing networks and connections. The Southern Railway's network stretches from Washington, D.C., to Georgia and Mississippi, and the Florida Central's network reaches to South Carolina.

Southern Railway System

This piece was originally published by the Richmond and Danville Railroad (1847 - 1894) to promote their routes. Chartered on March 9, 1847, the Richmond and Danville played a vital role for the Confederates during the American Civil War (1861 - 1865), as it linked Richmond (Confederate capital) with the rest of the Confederacy. After the war, the Richmond and Danville Railroad expanded rapidly, eventually encompassing 3,300 miles of track in nine states from Virginia to Texas. However, in 1892, when one of its subsidiary railroads, the Richmond and West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company, declared bankruptcy, the entire network collapsed. Financier J. P. Morgan reorganized the Richmond and Danville system, along with the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, the East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railroad, the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, and the Georgia Southern and Florida Railroad into the Southern Railway (1894 - 1982) in 1894. At that point, the Southern Railway operated over 4,400 miles of track, and owned two-thirds of that trackage. The Southern Railway continued to expand through the first two decades of the 20th century, eventually becoming an 8,000-mile, 13-state system that lasted for nearly 50 years. The Southern Railway resisted the railroad merger trend in the 1960s and remained an independent regional carrier. However, competition and the creation of the CSX Corporation in November 1980, forced the Southern Railway to merge with the Norfolk and Western Railway to form the Norfolk Southern Railway, which still operates.

The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad

The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (1889 - 1900) was a network of railroads stretching from South Carolina to Tampa. It was Florida's first major railroad network and the first to serve central peninsular Florida, predating Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad by decades. It began in 1832 with the Tallahassee Rail Road, connecting Tallahassee to the Gulf of Mexico. In the 1850s, the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad (FAGC; January 4, 1851) and the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad (PGR; January 1853) were chartered. These merged in 1869, acquiring the Tallahassee Railroad. The Pensacola and Georgia acquired the Tallahassee in 1855, and then merged with the FAGC in 1869, forming the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad (JPM). The JPM acquired trackage and land rights over the Florida Central Railroad (FCR), extending their line to Cedar Key, Orlando, and ultimately Tampa. In 1889, another reorganization occurred, creating the Florida Central and Peninsular Railway. The network reached its height in 1893, when it reorganized for the last time and emerged as the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad. In 1900, the Seaboard Air Line Railway leased the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad. Then, in August 1903, the Seaboard Air Line merged the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad into its network. Much of the network remains operational today.

Chromolithography

Chromolithography, sometimes called oleography, is a color lithographic technique developed in the mid-19th century. The process uses multiple lithographic stones, one for each color, to yield a rich composite effect. Generally, a chromolithograph begins with a black basecoat upon which subsequent colors are layered. Some chromolithographs used 30 or more separate lithographic stones to achieve the desired effect. Chromolithograph color can be blended for even more dramatic results. The process became extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when it emerged as the dominant method of color printing. The vivid color chromolithography made it exceptionally effective for advertising and propaganda.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn and engraved by the American Bank Note Company and initially published by the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company in 1893. The present edition was published c. 1894 after the Southern Railway Company was formed. The Southern Railway removed the Richmond and Danville Railroad's name and replaced it with their own, although they did not remove the copyright information in the lower left. We note a single example in OCLC, at the Université Laval in Québec. However, that example appears to be a microfilm photograph of an example at the Musée de l'Amérique Française at the Université Laval. An example of the earlier edition, bearing the name of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, is held by the Library of Congress.