Hey Guys,
From what has happened in the last few days, I think we can all agree that communication is key. This post is purely so that we can keep each other updated on our work. I hope that Dr. McDaniel has disabled moderation.
Today I stumbled upon a virtual treasure trove of old Houston maps. While we still need to find the pertinent data associated with the maps, I think these can definitely help either as the base of a map layer or at least the delineation of roads in the timeframes.
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/maps/images/map0436.jpg — 1935 — check out Jefferson Davis Hospital nearby the proposed Sam Houston State Park.
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/maps/images/map0435.jpg — 1913 — hopefully we can use ArcGIS to overlay the coords of this detailed street map onto a modern one.
http://historicaerials.com/ — Look at the 1957 view of Hermann Park. The Southeast corner of where the statue will be placed is on the border of a huge grassland!
Thus I think we can definitely shoot for four layers to the Houston aspect of the project: one for the planning and original monument, one to show the 1937 move to Sam Houston Park (which I argue is not a demotion but a linear move), one to show the 1958 move to Hermann Park (which was definitely a demotion) and finally a modern map that compiles and synthesizes the preceding maps.
I have sent an email to Professor Kleinberg in the Sociology department who has chaired Rice’s study of Houston’s population changes so as to find sources to analyze demographic localities in the past.
That’s all for now. Let me know how we can use these sources.
Also, all of these were found through http://houstorian.wordpress.com/old-houston-maps/
Sweet. Just to let you guys know, I’m going through the transcripts we made and amassing all the information I can find about the Dowling statue (where it has been located, where it might have been placed, who was involved with these changes, etc.), as well as his grave. I’ll have it all up in a new blog post tonight.