Fun With Maps: Mapping The San Francisco of 1853

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[Pastmapper's San Francisco in 1853. Click here for the real thing]

At Mission Mission, via Burrito Justice, news of Pastmapper, Brad Thompson's ambitious project to create Google maps of the past. His prototype gives us a look at the San Francisco of 1853 using data from vintage directories and overlays from the Donald Rumsey map collection. We learn that Grant Avenue was once called Dupont Street, and California Street looks like a hotbed of commercial activity. There's a clickable breakdown of businesses, so we found some saloons. We looked- and couldn't find- any bordellos. But that may require an entirely different vintage directory.
· What is Pastmapper? [Pastmapper]
· Google Maps, 1853 Edition [Mission Mission]
· Donald Rumsey Historical Map Collection [Geogarage]
· David Rumsey Map Collection [David Rumsey
· A.W. Morgan City Directory [Open Library]

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