Title: Cities of the Mississippi : nineteenth-century images of urban development /
Authors: Reps, John William.
Publisher: University of Missouri Press,
Year: 1994
Subjects: Cities and towns Mississippi River Valley History; Cities and towns Mississippi River Valley History Pictorial works.; Mississippi River Valley History Pictorial works.
Abstract: "The mighty Mississippi" has inspired writers and artists for centuries. During the nineteenth century, Mississippi River towns attracted artists who traveled throughout the United States producing detailed drawings of cities and towns, which were then printed and sold as lithographs or used as wood engravings to illustrate books and magazines. Depicting each street and building, as well as the natural setting and geographic features of the surrounding areas, these elaborate bird's-eye views were enormously popular. In Cities of the Mississippi, John W. Reps brings together hundreds of spectacular historical views of Mississippi River towns alongside contemporary aerial photographs and an engaging text. The result is a remarkable voyage through the nineteenth century and a powerful visual record of American urban development. From The Balize, a village for ship pilots near the mouth of the Mississippi, to St. Cloud, Minnesota, at its source, readers will experience Mississippi River towns ranging from the major metropolises of New Orleans, St. Louis, and Minneapolis to the small towns of Cairo, Kaskaskia, and Prairie du Chien. Reps introduces the artists, printers, and publishers who recorded the development of the cities and offers descriptions of the cities by residents, journalists, and travelers in their own words. Spectacular modern aerial photographs of twenty-three of the towns dramatically illustrate changes to the urban scene and demonstrate the lasting influence of the initial city patterns on subsequent growth.
Contents: Urban artists on the Mississippi frontier, 1803-1839 -- Mississippi views in the 1840s: the urban world of John Caspar Wild and Henry Lewis -- Images of towns in the age of wood engraving: book and magazine illustrations before and after the Civil War -- Townscape views and viewmakers at the end of the antebellum period, 1850-1959 -- Bird's-eye views of the upper river by Albert Ruger and his followers, 1867-1879 -- Bird's-eye views of St. Louis and the lower river, 1867-1879 -- River city views at the end of an era: the work of Henry Wellge and his fellow urban artists, 1880-1900 -- After the viewmakers left: a centennial portrait of the urban Mississippi -- Sixty-five tours on an upstream voyage guided by artists and authors of the last century.