1862 Johnson Map of Washington D.C. and Georgetown - Geographicus - WashDC-johnson-1862

A beautiful example of A. J. Johnson’s 1862 map of Washington D.C. and Georgetown. Offers a fascinating snapshot of the nation’s capitol shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil War. Shows the city in considerable detail with color coding according to ward. Notes numerous important buildings including the Capitol, the Smithsonian Institution, the White House (not yet called the White House), the Washington Monument, the National Observatory, the Navel Yard, the Poor House, the City Hall, and others. Shows the grid and ray structure according to L’Enfant’s brilliant plan. Georgetown appears as a separate entity in the upper left corner with Georgetown College noted just outside the city border. Also shows proposed landfills and extensions to the east side of the city into the east branch of the Potomac River. The grand dome of the Capitol Building, shown complete in the upper right hand quadrant of this map, was only partially complete when this map was issued. The Washington Monument appears in an earlier unrealized conceptualization in the lower left quadrant. Features the strapwork style border common to Johnson’s atlas work from 1860 to 1863. Published by A. J. Johnson and Ward as plate number 34 in the 1862 edition of Johnson’s New Illustrated Family Atlas . This is the first edition of Johnson’s Atlas to bear the “Johnson and Ward” imprint.