I found this old hand drawn map from 1885 in the creative commons of Wikipedia, it’s fascinating to zoom in and look at it, I really love how you can see the old Potter Street Station and the old courthouse. Click on the map to get a full size view of it and have a look around.

This dates back to a time when Saginaw comprised of the cities of East Saginaw and Saginaw. if you look at the buildings around the map you will see Mitts and Merrill along the top and that is where the smoke stack along the river came from.

Artist and publisher Oakley Hoopes Bailey (1843-1947) was one of the most prominent and prolific American viewmakers of the 19th century. Reps credit him with no fewer than 374 published views issued over a 55-year career. I tried to find out more about him, but I did not have much success, I can only assume he may have used a hot air balloon and a camera to create such accurate maps.

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