More Of Hartford By Phil Lohman

Without question the coolest thing about doing Sad City is the people we've met through the blog. When we featured a simply awesome cartoon map of Hartford by Phil Lohman the Courant put out in 1989, we got an email from our good friend Steve Goode from the Courant, who told us that Mr. Lohman had done some other Hartford maps over the years. Well we then got to digging up Mr. Lohman's email address. The next day we had a response with an invitation to call. After a few minutes on the phone we were on our way over to Mr. Lohman's house.

What Do We Think Of This?

Last month Forbes put out this interesting migration map. The map measure not only the inbound and outbound migration of an area, but the inbound and outbound per capita income. A quick glance at the Hartford County map shows that the population has increased slightly since 2005. The stats also show that the outbound income is $2,500 higher per capita than the inbound income. What does that tell us? Well you can draw your own conclusions and read the analysis of four "experts" here. All we can tell is that, predictably, a lot of people go down to Florida, and it doesn't appear any Hartford County residents caught Palin Fever and relocated to Alaska.

The Lohman Map

We've had our eye on this cartoon style map of Hartford by Phil Lohman for quite some time. We first saw it in the basement of one of our friends and was very happy to have the opportunity to acquire one a couple weeks ago. (Incidentally, this same map hangs in the Pan De Oro chip factory) It seems that the map was distributed by The Hartford Courant to celebrate 225 years in print. Since the map states that The Courant started "on a hard-operated press" in 1764, we did some hardcore number crunching and DNA analysis to date this map at 1989. It's a very cool and unique map and a glimpse at how Hartford was a generation ago. Huge thanks to Sad City friend Chion Wolf for taking the photo of this map for us. If you would like the full size jpeg, email us here.

A Really Old Hartford Map

We've previously posted old Hartford maps we've come across, but nothing quite this old. Sent to us by Sad City friend Donald Poland, this map dates back to 1640, which, coincidentally, is the same year Jeff Jacobs started writing for the Hartford Courant.

Ahh, young Hartford in the innocence of youth, so much to gain, so much to lose, and so many ups and downs to get to where we are today. Large scale map after the jump.

Hartford Kewl Find: An Even Older Map

Earlier this week we posted a 1908 Hartford map we found while avoided real responsibilities and wasting time on Ebay. This post lead reader Donald Poland to email us about an 1850 map that he had a digital image of. This 1850 map was surveyed and drawn by Marcus Smith and reproduced from the Map and Geographic Information Center at UConn. A larger image and some interesting notes on how the city has changed from Donald Poland after the jump.

Hartford Kewl Find: Century Old Map

One of the biggest problems with scouring tag sales is that you only have Saturday and Sunday mornings to check them out. Sometimes on Saturday and Sunday mornings our heads are pounding and the sunlight hurts our eyes from staying up too late and reading all night. That problem has been remedied by the worlds greatest tag sale; Ebay. Running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, almost anything can be found on Ebay including some great vintage Hartford items. While bored late one night we came across this gem, a 1908 map of Hartford. For those who know Hartford, the map is very recognizable and at under $10, is one of those great finds that those with a touch of "picker" in them really love. Ebay bonus: you don't have to see how gross of a place your prize is coming from! Enlarged pic after the jump.