Haverhill, located on the north side of the Merrimack River, is depicted from the south in this colorful bird's eye view. This composition focuses on the city's waterfront and central business district. Several larger factories, located near the railroad tracks and small tributary Little Rive rare positioned just left of center. However, the true nature of the city's industrial and commercial activity is captured in the marginal insets. Of the sixty-four vignettes, twenty-eight depicted boot, shoe, and slipper manufacturers while one portrayed a hat factory. Next to Lynn and Brockton, Haverhill was the state's third most important producer of footwear, primarily fine ladies shoes. The marginal insets, along with the legend's twenty-six entries, provide a more balanced image of the city's social and cultural life than many of the bird's eye views did for other industrial towns. They identified several public buildings, including the city hall, public library, and high school, which were pictured at the top center. Flanking these images are six churches. One of these was the French Catholic Church providing evidence of the French-Canadian population, one of the major immigrant groups that came to New England communities to work in the factories. In addition, there are pictures of seven private residences, most likely of the citys wealthiest citizens, but also the birthplace of poet John Greenleaf Whittier.
IIIF Manifest