What Cities Used to Look Like

Smithsonian has posted a series of interactive maps that allow users to examine the landscape of several American cities in the 19th Century.

The spyglass view shows an old plat map beneath the present-day satellite view. The maps by themselves don’t provide a high degree of visual information, but they do highlight features–streets, alleys, railroad lines, water, open space–that have been remade.

Sorry about the Goldman Sachs ads on the page. I guess the Smithsonian’s gotta get funded somehow.