This beautiful reproduction poster has been re-mastered from an original 1917 Sanborn map for the central business district of Barstow, California. This map show details of the downtown district including business names, railroads, early street layout, and municipal facilities, before the entire town moved to its current location in 1925. The Santa Fe Railroad’s famous Casa Del Desierto depot with its Harvey House restaurant is clearly shown out on this map.
The Sanborn Map Company was founded in 1867 by civil engineer and surveyor Daniel A. Sanborn. The company produced specialized maps that could be used by insurance companies to assess fire risks in urban areas.
The vibrant colors and detail of this classic image have been painstakingly brought back to life to preserve a great piece of history.
The high-resolution image is printed on heavy archival photo paper, on a large-format, professional giclée process printer. The poster is shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, and is ready for framing.
The 24"x36" format is an excellent image size that looks great as a stand-alone piece of art, or as a grouped visual statement. These posters require no cutting, trimming, or custom framing, and a wide variety of these frames are readily available at your local craft or hobby retailer, and online.
A great vintage print for your home, shop, or business!
HISTORY OF BARSTOW
Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, with a population of 22,639 at the 2010 census. Barstow is located 67 miles north of San Bernardino, and about 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The town is named after William Barstow Strong, former president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
Barstow is a major transportation hub for Southern California’s Inland Empire. Several major highways, including Interstate 15, Interstate 40, and California State Route 58, converge in the city. It is the site of a large rail classification yard, belonging to the BNSF Railway.
The settlement of Barstow began in the late 1830s along the Spanish Trail corridor. Every fall and winter, as the weather cooled, the rain produced new grass growth, and replenished the water sources in the Mojave Desert. People, goods, and animal herds would move from New Mexico to Los Angeles through the Barstow area, along the Old Spanish Trail. In 1848, the Mormon Trail was established from Salt Lake City to San Bernardino, and it also passed through the Barstow area.
Travelers on these trails followed the course of the Mojave River, watering and camping at a grove of Willows and Cottonwoods that became known as Fish Ponds, in eastern Barstow. Travelers also stopped about 3.6 miles up-river, at an area that had an abundance of wild grapes, near today’s North Barstow. That area became known as Grapevines.
Barstow's roots also lie in the rich mining history of the Mojave Desert following the discovery of gold and silver in the Owens Valley and in mountains to the east in the 1860s and 1870s. Due to the influx of miners arriving in Calico and Daggett, railroads were constructed to transport goods and people.
Before the advent of the interstate highway system, Barstow was an important stop on National Old Trails Road, Routes 66, and Highway 91. Much of its economy depends on transportation and tourism.
The Sanborn maps for Barstow provide some of the best examples of a city’s evolution. This can be seen by comparing the 1917 Sanborn map of Barstow to a modern-day map. The town’s original Main Street was located about 300 feet south of the Santa Fe depot and Harvey House that still exist today. Barstow’s Main Street became a section of National Old Trails Road in 1914, and the Sanborn maps provide beautiful details of every building and business that lined the street.
The downtown district had several large wood-frame auto garages, and a “moving picture” theater near the center of town. Several of the larger businesses were brick or stone buildings, but most of the structures were wood-frame construction.
By the early 1900’s, Barstow had become a major stop for the railroads, and for motorists on National Old Trails Road. As the town grew, it became wedged between the railroad tracks, and had nowhere to expand. In 1925, the entire downtown district of Barstow was moved about .4 miles south, and the present-day Main Street became the new downtown district, and part of Route 66.
