Boston from the North, 1877
John Bachmann positioned his viewpoint somewhere above Charlestown, looking south across the harbor toward the State House dome and the Common. The Back Bay is filling in. New blocks of brownstones extend west from the Public Garden in a strict grid, while trains thread through the city on five separate rail lines. L. Prang & Co. printed this chromolithograph at 47 by 64 centimeters, large enough to show individual buildings across the entire peninsula. The harbor is thick with sailing vessels and steamers, a reminder that in 1877 Boston was still as much a port city as a rail hub.
- The State House dome at center. Bachmann used it as the focal anchor for the entire composition.
- The Back Bay grid is visible west of the Public Garden, with blocks of new construction pushing into what was tidal flat a decade earlier.
- The trains: five rail lines enter the city from different directions, their depots clustered near the waterfront.
All prints are high-quality reproductions made from museum-grade scans at 300 DPI. Depending on the original scan dimensions, some prints may include white fill along the edges.