Tip: How I dated a map with no year using a single town name

Ngl, I picked up this old map at an estate sale in Louisville last spring with no date printed on it anywhere. I was stuck until a retired history teacher at the sale pointed out that a tiny town called "New Liberty" was labeled but I knew it changed to "Liberty Heights" in 1889 after a railroad dispute. He showed me how to check census records for when names changed, and boom, I pinned it to 1883. Now I look for renamed towns or erased counties as my go to trick for undated maps. Have any of you used a similar method with boundary changes or vanished settlements?

2 comments

2 Comments

brian_kelly917d ago

That's a solid trick with the renamed towns... I read somewhere that old railroad maps are actually a goldmine for stuff like that since they'd mark stations with the current names at the time.

fiona1306d ago

Wait, is this really that deep though? Like it's cool you figured out the date but aren't most old maps kind of a crapshoot anyway unless you're a historian lol