1881 Kewaunee & Dodge County Wisconsin Handcolored Maps Village Two Rivers Error

Description

Map of Dodge County (with) Map of Kewaunee County and inset map of Village of Two Rivers (Manitowoc County) Wisconsin
Published by H. R. Page & Co., Chicago, 1881.
Original, double-sided hand colored lithographic map sheet consisting of the Dodge county map on one side and Kewaunee/Two Rivers maps on the other extracted from H. R. Page’s “Illustrated Historical Atlas of Wisconsin”, the last of the 3 great Wisconsin State atlases published during the latter half of the nineteenth century and arguably the finest and most complete. Map size:12 ¾ x 15 ½ inches (borders) on sheet with broad margins.
These simple yet attractive and long-obsolete maps focus on political and cultural aspects of the covered areas plus additional features, many of which are listed below, and would tastefully adorn any home, cabin or vacation rental. If you have an interest in any of these Wisconsin places, old maps offer a unique window into the past that can inspire conversation, reflection, and appreciation.
What could possibly have changed over the past 140 years?
Condition: Generally very good and clean with light age toning and a single short edge tear limited to the margins.
The bound edge has been slightly trimmed to remove binding remnants but there is still ample margin left for framing.
Please view the photographs for more detail about condition and content and, of course, feel free to ask questions.
Content: The Dodge county map is colored by townships and shows
township, range and sections; cities and towns; roads; railroads, railroad stations and depots; post offices; churches and schools;
furnaces; mills; cheese factories; rivers and lakes; and more. Even a large number of private residences are named (presumably prominent citizens or subscribers to the atlas).
The Kewaunee county map is also colored by townships and shows township, range and sections; cities and towns; roads (but remarkably no railroads); post offices; churches and schools; rivers and lakes; and piers (a few named). The small Two Rivers map contains information such as extent; named streets; city blocks; a railroad and depot; buildings such as churches, schools, factories (chair and pail) but little else. Remarkably, Two Rivers is misidentified as belonging to Kewaunee County rather than Manitowoc County!
The county boundary configurations shown match those of present-day Dodge and Kewaunee Counties.
A scarce assemblage of maps each containing historical information of a bygone age when the pace of life was regulated by the speed of a horse, steam locomotive or steamboat (and paper map!) for these then relatively young Wisconsin counties and towns. By 1881, Wisconsin had begun to recover from the crippling economic Panic of 1873 – the worst US depression until 1929 – making the publication of a third state atlas economically viable even following tepid public reception to the previous Walling/Tackabury and Snyder/Van Vechten Wisconsin atlases. Each atlas was an improvement over its predecessor with changes made to formatting and content, although many of the Page and Snyder/Van Vechten maps share a very similar appearance and are cartographically almost identical, having been produced from the same plates. Close examination of Page and Snyder/Van Vechten map pairings sometimes reveal minor additions and removals by Page; however, major changes occurring within the few year span between these publications, such as county boundary redefinition due to new county formation, city/town map additions or removals, and new illustrations, were also made.
H. R. Page & Co. also published atlases of a small number of north mid-western US and southern Canadian counties, maps of selected US states, and other subjects up until the late 1880’s. Their Wisconsin State atlas endures as their most ambitious, comprehensive and best-known work. Wisconsinites are fortunate to have such a rich resource of affordable and display worthy cartographic material at their disposal.