PICTORIAL ST. LOUIS: a Topographical Survey, Drawn from Perspective 1875

Book excerpt: PICTORIAL ST. LOUIS: The Great Metropolis of the Mississippi Valley A Topographical Survey, Drawn From Perspective 1875.Illustrations by Camille N. Dry and designed & edited by Rich. J. Compton.Over 220 pages of illustrations and descriptions of life in St. Louis in the late 1800's. The preliminary drawings for this work were made early in the spring of 1874. After a careful consideration of the subject, it was determined to locate the point of view so that the city would be seen from the southeast, believing that to be the most advantageous in all respects. Accordingly, the point of site was established on the Illinois side of the river, looking to the northwest, and at sufficient altitude to overlook the roofs of ordinary houses into the streets. A careful perspective, which required a surface of three hundred square feet, was then erected from a correct survey of the city, extending northward from Arsenal Island to the Water Works, a distance of about ten miles, on the river front; and from the Insane Asylum on the southwest to the Cemeteries on the northwest.Every foot of the vast territory within these limits has been carefully examined and topographically drawn in perspective, by Mr. C. N. Dry and his assistants, and the faithfulness and accuracy with which this work has been done an examination of the pages will attest. Absolute truth and accuracy in the representation of the territory has been the standard and in no cases have additions or alterations been made unless the same were actually in course of construction. In a few cases, important public and private edifices that are not yet finished are shown completed, and as they will appear when done. All the buildings within the limits of the survey in July, 1875, are shown; and a very large number of those executed or commenced since that date have been also introduced, the pages having been constantly corrected up to the last possible moment before publication.