Vincennes, Indiana

City plan of Vincennes repurposed from its original publication by the local Chamber of Commerce.

Although it was originally designed as a street map by the Chamber of Commerce, this version of the map 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 four separate companies providing freight and passenger services, including the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Baltimore & Ohio, and New York Central.

Manuscript annotations identify the freight station, union depot and connecting destinations in other cities. Underlying the tracks can be found detailed street information and prominent businesses.

In addition, the map shows an interesting midcentury 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.