I approach each map of this type individually. Frequently, at least a few lots would sell, a few buildings were built, a few businesses were begun, but often the town failed before it ever blossomed. Some of these communities still have a few residents and a few of the streets can be discerned on Google satellite maps. My first encounter was with a map of New Birmingham, Cherokee County, Texas. New Birmingham had promise and its population grew to 1500 by 1888. Shortly after the turn of the century, however, it was considered a ghost town. There are, of course, many ghost towns that fell far short of this number, while there are also others that were far more successful in their day, with far greater populations. I would still bet that there were plenty of land speculators that held deeds to lots in towns that never came to be.
Leslie Wagner
Associate Archivist
University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
817-272-6209
[log in to unmask]
Chair, MAGIRT
Member SAA, SSA, TLA, ALA, TSHA, TSGS, TMS
-----Original Message-----
From: Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Roger Wheate
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2017 8:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Town planned out but never build: unbuilt environments
From a rural development colleague: The closest I have seen people come to a useful/comprehensive description is "unbuilt environments". The title was made a bit more popular in recent years by Jonathan Payton's book of the same name which looked at various proposals schemes in northern BC - most of which did not come to fruition.
Roger Wheate, UNBC
Prince George, BC, Canada
________________________________________
From: Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Susan Powell [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 8, 2017 2:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Town planned out but never build
I <3 this thread!
I don't have any cataloging advice to offer, but Stace is correct that we included some "zombie subdivision" maps in one of our pop-up map exhibits a few years back that featured Ghost Town Maps. Here's the exhibit libguide: http://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=144208&p=2757900
Best,
Susan
On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 1:17 PM, Angela R Cope <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Sue! That seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. I found a number of examples - Proposed town or just Proposed if it was a canal or railroad or like that:
Clinton (Otsego County, N.Y. : Proposed town) Franklinville (Mason County, Ky: Proposed town) ǂv Maps.
Niagara Canal (N.Y. : Proposed) ǂv Maps.
Other actual LC terms:
City planning
Real estate development
Housing developments
Land subdivision
And then some other great suggestions:
Reply 1
I'm not a map cataloger, but could this be a "paper town" or "phantom settlement"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_settlement
Reply 2
A quick look at entries for two such maps of never-really-took-off towns in a local university library catalog shows one under the subject "Planned Communities" and the other under the subject "City Planning"
Reply 3
“Zombie Towns” might be trendy, but terms like “Abandoned Subdivisions/Towns/Developments/Communities” seem more apt and in use, e.g.:
https://wongm.com/2016/06/sunshine-north-abandoned-subdivision/
http://genealogytrails.com/iowa/marion/abandoned_towns_01.htm
Reply 4
"paper streets" as in existing on paper only. So maybe "paper cities"
Thanks everyone! You all are so great!
Angie
_______________________________
From: Maps-L: Map Librarians, etc. <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of Sue Haffner <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Sent: Wednesday, November 8, 2017 2:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [MAPS-L] Town planned out but never build
It's been awhile since I've cataloged something like this. I seem to recall using either a generic term or the specific name of the place with the parenthetical (Proposed).
Sue Haffner
CSU Fresno, retired
On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 12:23 PM, David Medeiros <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
In the street mapping work of AAA etc. these are often referred to as "paper streets" as in existing on paper only. So maybe "paper cities"?
David Medeiros
Stanford Geospatial Center
On 2017-11-08 12:06, Angela R Cope wrote:
What subject heading would you use for a town that was surveyed and planned but eventually abandoned and never developed?
Extinct cities or Ghost towns just don't seem to fit.
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