New Map of Greater Louisville, Kentucky

Folding city plan of Louisville and Jeffersonville used in the archives of the Pennsylvania Railroad Engineering Department.

This linen backed folding map is based on a 1938 map of the Louisville area produced by the engineering firm of Guy Pease. Although it was originally designed as a street map and index, this version was used in the central engineering department (C.E. Office on the front cover) of the Pennsylvania Railroad archives and updated (by hand) with track ownership information into the early 1950’s. A custom legend identifies the tracks of nine separate companies, while the underlying base map identifies the location of schools, hospitals, libraries, fire stations, and parks.

In addition, the map shows an interesting mid-century transportation configuration a few decades prior to Penn R.R.’s merger with the New York Central in 1968. The resulting company, the Penn Central, declared bankruptcy in 1970 (the largest filing at the time) and many of its lines were eventually taken over by Amtrak. A hundred years earlier, the Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest corporation in the world and paid out annual shareholder dividends for over 100 consecutive years, showing just how rapidly and completely railroading fortunes could change.