Panoramic Maps in Victorian Times
By Henk Wevers, Professor Emeritus, Mechanical Engineering,
Queen’s University at Kingston, ON. Canada
Visualize a city at a time when modern science and technology did not exist: no satellite images,
global positioning, digital cameras, in fact no photography, no airplanes and no other means to
defy gravity. This was the City of Kingston in the mid eighteen hundreds during the reign of
Queen Victoria.
Imagine you want to see the rapidly developing city from a bird’s-eye-view much higher than
from the top of a hill, or church steeple. Would that not be an innovative way to impress
potential investors, and to set the city apart from its nearest competitors: Montreal and Toronto?
Alternatively, image yourself a soaring bird and spot your home, church, school and business far
below, seeing the neatly aligned streets, stretching back from the lakeshore and aligned with it.
In the middle is the public park, at the edges the river and military fortifications, all in miniature.
People, young and old, would have found such a panoramic view fascinating, indeed.
How bring to life such an imaginary perspective of your city? The answer is to engage one of the
many entrepreneur/artists who can let you soar, for a price, that is! Herman Brosius is such an
artist and he was commissioned to show the city in an exhilarating perspective.
Brosius, started his career as an artisan furniture woodcarver in Milwaukee. In 1874, he listed
himself in the Business Directory of that city as a traveling agent and artist. Beginning in 1871
and during the next decade, he produced at least fifty-seven panoramic maps, one of them in
1875, featuring the City of Kingston.1
Brosius’ Kingston map hangs in City Hall, at the Queen’s Archives, in the Public Library, and
copies of it can be found in many private homes. The illustration below, Figure 1, is but a poor
reflection of the full-size map, which is a 27x36 inch.
How were these maps made? Brosius would solicit a commission from several business people,
movers and shakers in town, who in turn inspired others to subscribe to the project. With his
money guaranteed, and most likely with a down payment negotiated, Brosius collected maps of
the city, information about its layout, the city’s boundaries, and natural features such as lakes,
rivers, hills, and valleys. This would enable him to lay out the basic perspective of an area
several square miles in size, in the case of Kingston, from Beverly Street in the west, to the
“Penny Bridge”, more officially known as the Cataraqui Bridge, that became over time the La
Salle Causeway in the east. Staying at one of Kingston’s hotels, inns or boarding houses, he
would spent long days walking around the city sketching landmark buildings, houses, factories,
churches, city hall, the water works, wharfs, the harbour, military installations and many more,
including the prominent natural features.
The most outstanding public buildings are sketched in precise detail and are shown separately in
the map’s bottom legend, Figure 2. For Kingston the selection was: the impressive “Insane
Asylum near Kingston” built between 1859-65, shown at the left of the bottom legend; “View
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Amon Carter Museum Texas Bird’s Eye Views Artist Bios.mht
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over the Kingston Harbour from Gunn’s Warehouse” at the centre, and “Kingston Penitentiary”
at the right of the legend. The asylum and the penitentiary were symbols of an enlightened
society that saw the need for segregation and classification of convicts. The Kingston
Penitentiary opened in 1835 and took in prisoners from across the province, then Upper Canada.
The asylum, built more than twenty years later, served the provincial needs for medical treatment
of certain convicts and people who because of mental illness were removed from civil society. 2
Fourteen churches are listed separately, using capital letters that correspond with each church on
the map. The rest of the legend is used for numerical lists of businesses or public works, which
each number inscribed on the corresponding building shown on the map.
The map is a true reproduction of buildings and infrastructure but, not necessarily showing every
detail of each and all buildings. Looking at a small section of the map around City Hall, Figure 3,
plenty of features are shown since this is closest to the observer. There is the market battery in
front of City Hall, a steam train progressing slowly to the inner station, boats at the nearby
wharfs and even people and horse drawn carts can be seen around City Hall and on Brock Street.
Interestingly we a steam driven paddle-wheel boat and sailing vessels moored in the harbour,
1875 was a time that sail was rapidly replaced by marine steam engines.
Along King Street, Figure 4, we see the Kingston Water Works at the lower right hand corner,
nr. 7, and the Martello Tower is shown at the foot of Barrie Street in the lower left corner.
Carriages travel along King Street and at the intersection with West Street, there is a horse drawn
street car connecting the downtown with the Breweries to the west at the foot of what is now
Lower University where the tracks stop, the General Hospital site is also shown. There are some
stately homes along King, Maitland, and Emily Streets. Kingston was a sophisticated city with
many modern amenities, great public works, and a magnificent City Hall, that was built in 1844
meant to serve as Parliament Building of United Upper and Lower Canada.
Lithographic printing, a technique that was invented in 1796 in Bavaria, Germany and widely
used in nineteenth century North America, would produce the map.3 Variations of this printing
technique are still in use to day. Brosius would have drawn with fatty crayons on a perfectly flatsanded limestone bloc slightly larger than the size of the map. The drawing technique is similar
to sketching with a pencil on paper except the image must be drawn in reverse! While most of us
would find this insurmountable, a good artist would feel comfortable with this requirement.
After the image was completely drawn, the printing surface would be chemically treated and the
lithography printers would make proofs. By removing the crayon lines and redrawing them
correctly, if necessary, the artist could make corrections. With the final proof settled, the
commercial printing could begin. This form of lithography allowed the printing of several
hundred copies and more, depending on the size of the limited edition. After the printing, the
stone would be re-sanded and used for the next print job.
With a job well done, Brosius would move on. We know he made panoramic maps for cities in
Upper Canada: Brockville in 1874, St Catherines in 1875, Kingston 1875, Brantford in 1875,
Ottawa in 1876 and St. Thomas (date unknown), as well as many American cities.4
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Kingston Building on the Past, Brian S. Osborne and Donald Swainson, p 259-272
National Gallery of Australia, Internet at First Impressions.mht
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Bob Stesky. Internet at Panoramic Maps.mht
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Figure 1. Brosius’ panoramic map of the City of Kingston, 1875. The legend shows features of
the city, chosen to make an inspiring and modern impression.
Figure 2. The left side of the legend shows in fine detail the asylum, built between 1859-65 from
the plans of William Coverdale. It allowed the prison population to be segregated between the
criminal elements and the mentally distressed.
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Figure 3. Enlarging a very small part of the map shows City Hall. Note: the market battery in
front of City Hall; it was dismantled shortly after Brosius drew the map, to make place for a
park. 5The Grand Trunk Railway steam train passes in front of the market battery. It delivered or
picked up passengers at the foot of Johnston Street and freight from the warehouses and
industries along the shore of Lake Ontario. Nr. 44 is the Grand Trunk R.R. Wharf. The railroad
spur built in 1859 ran across a causeway and a swing bridge across the mouth of Anglin’s Bay to
the outer railway station on Montreal Street built in 1855-56. 6
Figure 4. A detail along King Street shows the Kingston Water Works at the lower right hand
corner, nr 7, and the Martello Tower at the foot of Barrie Street in the lower left corner.
Carriages travel along King Street and at the intersection with West Street a horse-drawn
streetcar is shown, connecting the downtown with the Breweries at the foot of what is now
Lower University. The rails seem to stop there, but The penitentiary and the asylum further west
had to be accessed by horse drawn carriages or by walking. There are some stately homes along
King, Maitland, and Emily Streets.
Heritage Kingston, J.Douglas Stewart & Ian E. Wilson, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University at
Kingston, ON., 1973
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Personal communication George Dillon, Kingston, ON.
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