Dallas in 1872
When William H. Patchen, Herman Brosius’ agent, arrived in Dallas in December 1872, he had with him a copy of the newly printed view of Jefferson by Brosius as well as a sketch of Dallas that Brosius had just finished. He had, too, a proposal that if the local citizens would subscribe for a sufficient number of copies, he would produce a colored lithograph of Dallas similar to the… [More]
Jefferson in 1872
As the bird’s-eye-view phenomenon coursed through the country, three additional artists arrived in Texas in the 1870s and produced views of more than a dozen different cities. Herman Brosius, the first bird’s-eye-view artist to follow Drie into the state, probably arrived in Jefferson in the spring of 1872 by steamboat from nearby Shreveport, Louisiana, where he had done a bird’s-eye view of that city. Jefferson was then one of… [More]
Victoria in 1873
In 1873 Victoria was the principal city of Texas’ central coastal region and on the supply line from the Lavaca Bay ports to San Antonio and Austin. Located on the Guadalupe River, Victoria was also a river port, with steamboats serving the city as late as the 1880s. However, Brosius’ view—looking south toward the river in the far-right distance and the recently arrived Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railway… [More]
Waco in 1873
Brosius might have taken the train from Dallas southward to Waco, where he sketched that city just as it was rebuilding from a terrible 1871 fire that destroyed the downtown area known as “Rat Row,” between First Street and the Courthouse. Evident in the resulting reconstruction (and shown in the view) are some of the more substantial brick buildings that replaced the wooden structures. Fires were often good… [More]
