This is a 1958 First American National Bank of Nashville bird's-eye view map of Nashville, Tennessee, originally published by Henry Wellge in 1888. Looking west over the city from a point above the modern-day neighborhoods of Historic Edgefield and Shelby Hills, the Tennessee State Capitol is laid down among the low-profile houses and apartment buildings. Nashville's important railroads and factories are prominently illustrated, with factory smokestacks across the city emitting large plumes of black smoke - indicative of industrial prosperity. Riverboats travel up and down the Cumberland Rive.r Many streets are labeled, and eighty-nine locations throughout the city are numerically identified, including numerous businesses, churches, and schools (such as Vanderbilt University), and correspond with a reference along the bottom border.
Publication History and CensusThis bird's-eye view was published by the First American National Bank of Nashville in 1958 as a promotional piece from a print owned by Stanley F. Horn. The source view was published by Henry Wellge and Company of Milwaukee in 1888. This 1858 view is not a stone-lithograph, the original Wellge piece, from 1888, would have been. Three examples of the present map are cataloged in OCLC and are part of the collections at Cornell University, the Tennessee State Library and Archives, and Brigham Young University.
Henry Wellge (1850 – 1923) was an American panoramic bird's-eye view publisher, artist, and cartographer active in Milwaukee in the late 19th and early 20th century. Wellge was born in Germany in 1850. His first view, in 1878, was of Chilton Wisconsin, but most of his early work is in association with J. J. Stoner, another prolific view maker. Eventually established his own firm Henry Wellge and Company. Later his published and Norris, Wellge and Company. Ultimately though, most of his work appears under the imprint of the American Publishing Company. He continued to publish views until about 1910 with about 152 views bearing his imprint. Wellge is known for large dramatic views illustrated with emphasis on the horizontal dimension. Learn More...
Good. Exhibits toning and foxing along right side. Closed margin tears professionally repaired on verso. Blank on verso.