{"product_id":"illinois-map-1878-railroad-print-chicago-springfield-peoria","title":"Illinois Map 1878 Railroad Print - Chicago, Springfield, Peoria","description":"\u003cp\u003eGeorge Franklin Cram, working from his own Chicago offices at the Western Map Depot, published this Rail Road and Township Map of Illinois in 1878 as part of his Standard American Atlas of the United States, a large-folio, hand-colored atlas built as a business traveler's guide to the country's expanding rail network. This sheet comes from the atlas's rare original printing, colored by county across a state whose railroad density already outstripped every one of its neighbors. Illinois is mapped here just seven years after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, in a city that had rebuilt itself so thoroughly and so quickly that by this date it had already reclaimed its position as the nation's dominant rail hub, the very network this atlas was designed to document.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpringfield anchors the map as the state capital, a central Illinois town whose fame as Abraham Lincoln's adopted home only added to its prominence as the seat of government. Chicago dominates the northeast corner as the convergence point for rail lines radiating across the entire Midwest, its position on Lake Michigan making it as much a shipping hub as a railroad one. Peoria anchors the Illinois River valley at the state's center, a river town whose milling and distilling industries made it the state's second commercial center after Chicago itself. Together the dense grid of railroads crossing the map and the prairie farmland stretching to the Mississippi River describe a state whose economy ran, quite literally, on rails.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis sheet was published from the very city it depicts, at the height of Chicago's rebuilding after the 1871 fire, which gives it particular resonance for an Illinois family with Chicago or downstate roots and for a collector marking that recovery. The store's other Illinois editions include the 1893, 1884, and 1883 Cram issues, an 1874 Asher \u0026amp; Adams sheet, and Tanner editions from 1838 and 1841; this 1878 map is the one printed by a Chicago publisher documenting his own rebuilt city. It's printed unframed and available in a range of sizes to fit whatever wall it's headed for.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TheMapVault","offers":[{"title":"16x20 inch - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448632651,"sku":"SKU1476-16x20","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A2 (42x60cm) - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448665419,"sku":"SKU1476-A2","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"18x24 inch - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448698187,"sku":"SKU1476-18x24","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"50x70 cm - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448730955,"sku":"SKU1476-50x70","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A1 (60x84cm) - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448763723,"sku":"SKU1476-A1","price":40.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"24x32 inch - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448796491,"sku":"SKU1476-24x32","price":40.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"70x100 cm - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448829259,"sku":"SKU1476-70x100","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"75x100 cm - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448862027,"sku":"SKU1476-75x100","price":50.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"A0 (84x119cm) - UNFRAMED","offer_id":58513448894795,"sku":"SKU1476-A0","price":55.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0907\/2456\/5323\/files\/SKU1476.jpg?v=1789679855","url":"https:\/\/www.themapvault.com\/products\/illinois-map-1878-railroad-print-chicago-springfield-peoria","provider":"TheMapVault","version":"1.0","type":"link"}