Saturday, October 27, 2007

1977 Ft.Wayne Caricature Map

This is a 1977 caricature map by Caricature Maps, Inc. of Kokomo, Indiana. I remembered seeing this around town when I was a teenager and, if memory serves me, they retailed for $20 back then. I stumbled across this one at a flea market a number of years ago, and snatched it up, stains and all, for the tidy sum of $5.



It seems that these maps were advertising-driven; you could tell the level of contribution/support from local businesses based on the size of their representation on this caricature. This thing reads like a "who WAS" in the Summit City thirty years ago! Some closer views:


Check out that Maloley Brothers grocery on Stellhorn Road; I opened that as a new Big Lots store in 1997.




"Fort Wayne is known as the city of churches"




"The WOWO time capsule will be opened in 1994"




The Bus Company? GTE? Home Loan & Savings?




How many of you recall these maps? Do you remember seeing versions for other local cities?
Posted by John Good at 10/27/2007 11:45:00 PM
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I remember seeing this map in my first grade classroom.

October 28, 2007 12:05 PM
J Q Taxpayer said...

I have one that was framed for a couple years in my den. It is now stored away in a hard tube.

Look at the number of local businesses that where owned by local people and employed local people that are now gone.

Look at downtwon Fort Wayne in 1977 compared to today. Most of these businesses did not get one cent to locate downtown.

No, we can not go back to 1977 but we can learn from our history. The government did not make us a strong community, but the business community did.

October 28, 2007 12:46 PM

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