Gallup Maps have dated back as early as 1875, which puts the
Gallup Map Company as one of Kansas City’s oldest.
F
Fred Gallup, the original location was at Broadway and 9th Street then moving to Baltimore and 9th, then to Walnut and 14th. Most of these moves were do to growth, having at one time as many as 100 cartographers. With one of the landmark accomplishments being that they produced the very first United States road atlas and sold it to Rand McNally in the 1930s. The Gallup Map Company is now located at Main and 17th, and owned by one Patrick Carroll. Patrick recalls when his parents purchased the Gallup Map company from it's founder's family. Tom and Pat Carroll had purchased Harris Custom Framing in 1957 and was doing a lot of framing and mounting for the Gallup Map Company. When the Gallup family placed the map company up for sale in 1968, the Carroll's bought it as a way to expand the framing company. "I was 8 at the time, and helped my Dad move the business from 14th and Walnut, to 1733 Main where it remains today" remarked Patrick. As you can imagine, road maps, rail road maps, county abstract maps, etc, of every size, shape, and format occupy the building on Main. But it was not until 2006 that Patrick came across a collection of maps that would place ounded by
Gallup Map Company "on the map". Not just as one of Kansas Cities oldest companies but as having a collection of maps labeled so rare that an antique traveling road show was stumped. This collection consists of about 125 original hand drawn, pen and ink maps on linen paper. Each map is a one of a kind manuscript. They are classified by appraisers as "super rare" because they do not exist in the auction records. They just never come up for sale. The maps have been stored, sealed in tubes for decades, some almost a century. They had not been exposed to light, sun or even air, until 2006 and some not until this year. This means that the condition of most of these are excellent. Nearly all of them are copyrighted by Gallup Map Company. They are all hand drawn, and hand labeled, without the use of lettering systems. The cartographers that drew them were true artists, and the incredible amount of skill they had is evident in each and every map. Every map is a true work of art and something to see!
Classified as “super rare” because they do not exist in the auction records
These maps are purchased for Fathers Day, Birthdays, Christmas or just because. They are both beautiful and magical in the way they symbolize the beginning of an era. www.lakehomesmag.com
2010
may / june
lakehomes&lifestyles
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