Pittsfield 1856

Pittsfield (Massachusetts)
Lithograph via The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Lithograph by Jean Jacottet and Joseph-Gabriel Aubrun, from a drawing by James Colt Clapp. Published before 1860 in New York by Goupil & Co. Described by Boston Rare Maps as

A lovely and rare view of Pittsfield, Mass. looking south from the grounds of the Maplewood Young Ladies’ Institute. The general impression is of a prosperous, largely pre-industrial town in a lovely natural setting, with many fine churches and other large structures. Pittsfield became a manufacturing power house with the arrival of General Electric in the 20th century, but these changes are merely intimated by two tiny trains moving across the view in the middle distance.

The drawing by James C. Clapp was made in 1856 according to the caption in the 1911 souvenir program for the 150th Anniversary Celebration in Pittsfield:

This view of Pittsfield, from one of the Maplewood buildings, is reproduced from a lithograph printed in Paris after a drawing made by Mr. James C. Clapp in 1856. --Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1761-1911