Map of Washington, PA

Detailed street plan of Washington, PA created by engineers of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

This street map of Washington, Pennsylvania was originally designed by city engineer Henry Streator and shows a detailed overview of the city at a scale of 1″ to 900′. The image is organized by wards and individually labels primary transportation routes, adjacent townships, and a handful of scattered points of interest. Further building outlines are noted and numbered, alluded to an accompanying index (not present).

This particular example of the map was created specifically for use in the Central Engineering Department of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and has been dissected and mounted on linen for preservation and convenient storage. Vivid color has been applied by hand to denote property and track ownership throughout the city and a custom legend has been added to the lower right to identify the three primary railroad operators.

Of particular interest is the Tylerdale Connecting Railroad, which was organized in 1899 to connect to both the Penn and B. & O. railroads in order to obtain the best rates through competition. Additional manuscript notations in black ink identify the location of line branches, passenger stations, and connecting destinations.