September has suddenly turned into October and it’s time for a new Map of the Month. October’s map is a portion of a hand-drawn plat of the City of Little Falls. While the date is not stated on the map, we can date it to pre-1892 because of the street names. Prior to 1892, the major avenues in Little Falls were named for trees. The map shows Elm Street, Oak Street, and Maple Street (note that they aren’t avenues at this time). Oak Street was renamed Broadway in 1892; Elm became First Avenue Northeast; and Maple became First Avenue Southeast.
The map was used in Victor Schallern’s real estate and insurance business, the Royal Insurance Company. This business was started by Victor in 1891. In 1896, he took on Simon Brick as a partner. In 1899, Simon sold his interest in the business to Lyman Signor. All of this information is on a type-written note located on the back side of the map (unattached), inside the encapsulation envelope. In looking for Victor Schallern’s business in the city directories, I found that it was called Reliable Insurance Agency in 1928.
There’s another curious thing about this particular map. Drawn directly on the back are various cartoon-like portraits. These were drawn by Carol and Florence Schallern, two of Victor’s three daughters. (The third was Hazel.) The drawings appear to be of a later vintage than the map itself, because many of them show Flapper-era styles.
Come on in and have a look.