This rare bird's-eye view of Lawrence, Kansas was drawn by Albert Ruger, an artist who specialized in Midwestern city views following the Civil War. It was taken 14 years after the city was established by the New England Emigrant Aid Company and named after Amos Lawrence, an abolitionist from Massachusetts who promoted financial incentives for northern settlers to the area. Lawrence was the free-soil capital during the Bleeding Kansas period, in which abolitionists and proponents of slavery fought over control of Kansas Territory. Unlike the political landscape in the 1850s, however, this view presents a very peaceful rendering with the town nestled on the southern bank of the Kansas River, the small settlement of North Lawrence on the other river bank, and both farms and open prairies in the surrounding vicinity. The street-grid pattern is presented and named, and 16 locations are keyed to the map including 8 churches, 3 schools, Kansas University (founded in 1865), the Union Pacific Railroad depot (north side of the river), and the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad depot. A single bridge for horse and pedestrian traffic joins the two communities, while the state's first windmill is illustrated at lower left. Vignettes in the bottom border include a public school and Kansas University. We found no other examples of this view for sale in the last 50 years and only 3 institutional holdings on OCLC (University of Kansas, Penn State, and the Library of Congress).

References: Reps #1100.

Condition: B+

Attractive color on a bright sheet with some minor toning at top. There is an archivally repaired 0.75" edge tear along the left border and several areas of archival reinforcement on verso with no apparent loss of image. Several small edge chips and edge tears confined to the blank margins have been repaired on verso with archival materials.