Old West towns historical, realistic and fantastic
So as we accumulate more Wild West town map assets, I wonder about how people are going to put them together and make up their own towns. In the past, we had towns built around farming, water sources, river traffic, railroad traffic, mineral/resource extraction (mining, timber), and overland cattle or immigrant traffic. There were also towns that grew up around army forts, however, those forts were usually put in place for one of the other reasons.
Dodge City Kansas was originally a settlement next to Fort Dodge, the fort and town both supported westward migration over the Santa Fe Trail. Four years later after it was founded, homesteaders got the legislature to push the Texas cattle quarantine west of Abeline, and Dodge City became a booming cow town.
Building Type | Farming | Immigrant | Mining | Railroad | Ranching | River |
Assay Office | Only very large | |||||
Bank | ||||||
Barber and Dentist | ||||||
Billiards | ||||||
Blacksmith | ||||||
Boarding House | ||||||
Brothel | ||||||
Butcher | ||||||
Church | ||||||
Courthouse | ||||||
Dance Hall | ||||||
Dentist | ||||||
Drug Store | ||||||
Dry Goods | ||||||
Firehouse | ||||||
Freight Company | ||||||
Funeral Parlor | ||||||
General Store | ||||||
Glaziery | ||||||
Grain Elevator | ||||||
Gun Shop | ||||||
Hospital | ||||||
Hotel | ||||||
Ice House | ||||||
Jail | ||||||
Jeweler | ||||||
Land Office, claims | Territory or State Government | Territory or State Government | Only very large | Territory or State Government | Territory or State Government | Territory or State Government |
Laundry | ||||||
Lawyer | ||||||
Lumber Mill | Yes | Often | ||||
Marshal’s Office | ||||||
Mines | Hard Rock mines | Panning not mining | ||||
Newspaper | ||||||
Pawn Shop | ||||||
Photography Studio | ||||||
Post Office | ||||||
Restaurant | Only very large | Only very large | Only very large | Only very large | Only very large | Only very large |
Saloon | ||||||
Schoolhouse | ||||||
Seamstress, Tailor | ||||||
Second-Hand Goods | ||||||
Sheriff’s Office | ||||||
Smokehouse | ||||||
Stables and Corrals | ||||||
Stock Yards | Yes | Yes | ||||
Telegraph Office | ||||||
Theater | ||||||
Wainwright, wagons | Yes | Yes | ||||
Warehouse | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Water Tower | Yes | |||||
Windmill |
Looking at some of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, I am trying to see what some famous towns had for building types, the reality check, so to speak. Worked everything on Deadwood October 1885, Image 3. Lots of Vacancies (Vac) and Dwellings (Dwg). Worth noting the town founded in later 1875 was at its peak in 1876, the town burned down in 1879 there were 3,777 people in the 1880 census, down from the peak, and the nearby town of Lead absorbed a lot of the population. In 1883 Deadwood was electrified and had its own generating plant. This is reflected in the 1885 Sanborn maps.
Building Type | Deadwood | Dodge City | Ft Worth | Miles City | Tombstone | KDCTC |
Agricultural Implements | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Assay Office | Yes | |||||
Auction House | Yes | |||||
Bakery | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Baking Powder Factory | Yes | |||||
Bank | Yes | Yes | Y | |||
Barber | Two | Yes | Y | |||
Bath House | Two | |||||
Beer Garden | Yes | |||||
Beer Vault, between Carraige house and Saloon | Three | |||||
Black Smith | Two | Yes | Two | Y | ||
Boarding House | Yes | Yes | ||||
Books, & Variety, & Confectionary, & Jewelry FT Worth | Yes | Yes | ||||
Bootmaker | Yes | |||||
Boots & Shoes | Yes | |||||
Brewery | Yes | Yes | ||||
Calaboose, prison next to City Hall Ft Worth | Yes | |||||
Card Room, behind a Barbershop | Yes | |||||
Carpenter | Three | Yes | ||||
Carpets | Yes | |||||
Carriage House | Yes | Yes | ||||
Carriage Works, Ft Worth image 6 | Yes | |||||
Church | Four | Yes | ||||
Cigar | Yes | |||||
Cigar, Gasoline & Oil, that’s a combination | Yes | |||||
Cistern House, well, pump, windmill | Yes | |||||
City Hall | Yes | |||||
Clothing | Four | Yes | Yes | |||
Coal House | Yes | |||||
Cobbler | Yes | |||||
Coffins | Yes | |||||
Confectionary, Confectionary & News, Ft Worth | Yes | Yes | ||||
Corniceworks | Yes | |||||
Corral, horse, or stock (cattle) | Yes | Yes | Two | |||
Cotton Gin & Corn Mill | Yes | |||||
Cotton Yard | Yes | |||||
Courthouse | Yes | |||||
Dance House & Wine Rooms part of a Theater | Yes | Y | ||||
Dentist | Yes | |||||
Doctor | Yes | Y | ||||
Dressmaker | Yes | |||||
Drug Store | Yes | Yes | Y | |||
Dry Goods | Yes | |||||
Dye House | Yes | |||||
Electric Power Plant, Deadwood | Yes | |||||
Express Office | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Fancy Goods | Yes | |||||
Fancy House, Brother, House of Ill Repute | Y | |||||
Female Boarding | Three | Yes | ||||
Fire Engine House, Steam; Hell’s Half Acre had a Firehouse | Two | |||||
Fish | Yes | |||||
Flour Mill | Yes | Yes | ||||
Freight Co railroad depot | Yes | |||||
Freight Wagon Yard, near railroad | Yes | |||||
Fruit | Yes | Yes | ||||
Furniture & Crockery | Yes | |||||
Furniture & Queensware (China dishes), Cabinetwork | Two | Yes | ||||
Furniture Repair | Yes | Yes | ||||
Galvanized Ironworks | Yes | |||||
Gambling | Two | Yes | Y | |||
Gas Fitting | Yes | |||||
Gas & Light Co. Gas Works, Ft Worth | Yes | |||||
General Merchandise | Yes | Y | ||||
German Club Hall, Deutscher Verein Halle like a theater, image 6 | Yes | |||||
Grain | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Grain Elevator & Warehouse, near railroad | Yes | |||||
Grocery | Two | Yes | ||||
Gun & Machine Shop | Yes | |||||
Guns | Yes | Yes | Y | |||
Guns & Tobacco | Yes | |||||
Gunsmith, 512 Houston, Guns, Pistols, Sporting Goods, Repairs | Yes | |||||
Hardware | Two | Yes | Y | |||
Harness & Saddlery | Two | Yes | Y | |||
Hay & Feed | Yes | |||||
Horse Trader, there are so many liveries there must be dealers | Implicit | Y | ||||
Hospital | Yes | |||||
Hotel | Many | Five | Y | |||
Ice House, Retail Ice, Ice Company 20+ tons per day | Yes | Two | ||||
IronWorks, Las Vegas, NM, had one. | ||||||
Jail, Ft Worth County Jail | Yes | Yes | ||||
Job Printing | Yes | |||||
Junction House, near railroad | Yes | |||||
Knights of Honor Hall | Yes | |||||
Laboratory, Ft Worth | Yes | |||||
US Land Office, corner West Main, and Gold. | Yes | Yes | ||||
Laundry, Chinese Laundry, Steam Laundry | Three | Yes | Yes | |||
Lawyer’s Office | Y | |||||
Library Deadwood had a 1,000-book-lending library | Yes | |||||
Liquor | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Livery | Two | Yes | Yes | Y | ||
Lock & Gunsmith, LasVegas NM | ||||||
Lodge, Ft Worth has a Colored Lodge in 1885 image 9 | Yes | |||||
Lodging | Yes | Many | Yes | |||
Lumber Storage, Lumber Yard | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Lunch | Yes | |||||
Machine & Boilerworks, Foundry, | Yes | |||||
Machine Shop | Yes | |||||
Machinery Depot, Ft Worth image 2 1885 | Yes | |||||
Masonic Hall | Yes | Yes | ||||
Mattress Maker | Yes | Yes | ||||
Meat, butcher shop, Smokehouse & Poultry Shed | Two | Yes | ||||
Meat Co. & Slaughterhouse | Yes | |||||
Millinery | Yes | |||||
Musical Instruments | Yes | |||||
Newspaper, Ft Worth Gazette | Yes | |||||
News Stand | Yes | |||||
Offices | Two | Many | ||||
Oil Mill, steam presses seeds to make vegetable oils | Yes | |||||
Opera House | Yes | |||||
Paint Shop, sold paint, sometimes attached to Drugstore | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Painting often attached to Woodworking | Yes | |||||
Pawn Broker | Yes | |||||
Photo Gallery | Yes | Yes | ||||
Planing Mill | Two | Yes | ||||
Plumbing | Yes | |||||
Post Office | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Produce | Yes | |||||
Public School | Yes | Yes | ||||
Queensware (China dishes) | Two | Yes | ||||
Restaurant | Four | Yes | Y | |||
Restaurant & Lodging | Yes | Yes | ||||
Restaurant & Wine Room | Yes | |||||
Rubber Stamp Manufacturing | Yes | |||||
Saloon | Eleven | 22 | Five | |||
Saloon & Billards | Yes | 10 | ||||
Saloon & Dance Hall, Ft Worth | 1 | |||||
Saloon & Gambling | Yes | 2 | Yes | |||
Saloon & Lodging | Yes | 3 | Yes | |||
Saloon & Lunch | 1 | |||||
Saloon & Restaurant, Ft Worth | 2 | |||||
Sash, Door & Blind Factory, Scroll Sawing & Turning | Yes | |||||
Savings Bank & Jewelry | Yes | |||||
Second Hand Furniture | Yes | |||||
Second-Hand Goods | Yes | |||||
Second-Hand Clothing | Yes | |||||
Sewing Machine | Yes | |||||
Shanties | Yes | |||||
Sheriff’s Office | +Marshal | |||||
Shoemaker | Yes | |||||
Shooting Gallery | Yes | |||||
Skating Rink | Two | Yes | ||||
Soda Water Factory, Ft Worth | Two | |||||
Stage Stables | Yes | Y | ||||
Stationery | Yes | Yes | ||||
Steam Printing, oh yes, steam the adjective | Yes | |||||
Stone Cutting | Yes | |||||
Stoves & Tinware | Yes | |||||
Tailor | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
Telegraph Office | Yes | Yes | Y | |||
Telephone Exchange | Yes | |||||
Tenements | Yes | |||||
Theater, Variety, Opera, Comique | Yes | Yes | Y | |||
Tin Shop, Tin & Sheet Iron Shop | Two | Yes | ||||
Tobacco | Half? | Y | ||||
Train Depot | Yes | Y | ||||
Trolley Stables, Ft Worth, Street Car Stables | Yes | |||||
Undertaker | Yes | |||||
United Brothers of Friendship Hall, off Hell’s Half Acre | Yes | |||||
Upholstery | Yes | |||||
Vinegar Factory | Yes | |||||
Wagon Shop, Wagon Parts, Carriage shop | Two | Yes | Y | |||
Wagon Storage, Wagon Yard | Yes | Yes | ||||
Wallpaper next to a Paint Shop | Yes | |||||
Watchmaker | Yes | |||||
Water Works & Plumbing | Yes | |||||
Water Work Pump House | Yes | |||||
Warehouse, detached, not a back room to retail | Three | Yes | Yes | |||
Well & Pump, with or w/o Windmill attached | Yes | Yes | ||||
Wheel Wright | Yes | |||||
Wood & Coal Yard | Yes | |||||
Woodworking | Yes | Yes | ||||
Wool & Hides, Hides in Ft Worth, Wool Warehouse | Yes |
I’m going to talk about a few special cases, there were only eleven Federal assay offices after 1874 that would buy precious metals and melt them down to mint new coins and bullion. Some were colocated with existing Federal Mints. However, there might be somebody in your town who either was a goldsmith or the bank might take your gold dust and nuggets on deposit. Saloons in mining towns might take gold dust in trade for whisky, cigars, and other things. Deadwood had an Assay Office and a Land Office because real data beats theory.
Every state and territory had a land office where you could register a homesteading claim, and later mining claims, this was public land people were claiming, and in both cases, they needed to put $100 worth of labor into the land every year for five years to get the land. The railroad companies were given public land near their railroads not only to build the train tracks and infrastructure but also to sell to settlers so that towns might spring up and train stops might flourish. So a railroad town might also have a land office, where you paid for a plot instead of working a plot for the sweat equity of owning it later.
Today there are 94/97 US Marshals offices in the US, one would assume there are fewer during the westward expansion period. I’d like to put together a list for folks to be able to wire the Marshal wherever and be historically accurate if they want to be.
Looking at my hometown of Fort Worth they had a newspaper the Gazette that had offices, press, and binders, compositors offices (layout), editorial rooms, Otto Silent Gas Engine (to run the presses?) and they seemed to do job printing out of the first floor under the compositor’s rooms.
We’re going to create a list of buildings a great steampunk setting might have, machine shops were very rare in the early 1800s, and blacksmiths and other ironworkers eventually gave way to machinists, but it took some doing to build that industry in the US, for a while Britain had a monopoly on quality steel and machine manufacturing. Japan went to great lengths to modernize its industries even before the Meiji restoration.
Building Type | Description and placement notes |
Airfield | Literally, a field where airships can land, workers would have stakes, hammers, rope, ladders, water, hydrogen generators, coal gas generators, rubber cement, silk, goldbeater skin, and canvas for patching airbags. Depending on traffic, a small passenger waiting area with benches similar to a train station. |
Clockworks | This building is split into a retail display area as well as a more workmanlike warehouse area and a small workshop. In the various areas, you can find anything from the parts to repair a pocket watch, grandfather clocks, and larger gears. The largest spring motors they stock can power trolley cars. |
Coaling Station | A coal repository setup to service commercial and military needs. This would support a naval port, airfield, or train depot. |
Foundry | Pours molten metals into molds and casts all kinds of items from them, the Pullman company developed cast iron bogie wheel trucks for their trains that weighed less and could bear greater weight than the trucks made in England at the time. |
Gunworks | A series of machine shops that make gun parts and hand assemble them. Other parts of the facility would involve proofing the barrels by test-firing new guns to see if they explode. Birmingham UK is a decent model of a Gunworks. |
Ironworks | Las Vegas, New Mexico, had an IronWorks. |
Laboratory | Morse, Bell, Marconi, Edison, and Tesla had laboratories, and so did Jekyll and Frankenstein. If you wanted to work on Biology, Chemistry, or Electricity, you needed a lab. Tesla borrowed power from a Denver utility, Edison built his own plants, and your lab is going to need supplies from somewhere, airships, railcars, steamers, and freight wagons can bring in what you can’t find locally. |
Outfitters | Man-portable high-pressure steam tanks, Elephant rifles, ammunition, arctic cold weather clothing, six weeks rations, and a case of port all transferred to your airship within the hour. Now, will you be paying in dollars, pounds, francs, bullion, or precious gems? Many outfitters just sold clothes, but during the 1800s, some went above and beyond, selling to the military as well as explorers, they sold travel trunks, swords, firearms, camp supplies, and whatever else you needed to explore the arctic, deserts, islands, jungles and other wilderness environments. |
Smelter | Removes impurities from raw ores, and produces refined metals. |
Steamworks | A manufactory where steam boilers are built, piping and fittings are assembled, old pressure vessels can be maintained, and the services of welders as well as their supplies can be obtained. Steam velocipedes, Traction engines, high and low-pressure steam engine repairs, sales, and rentals. The one I found in Fort Worth, Texas was called a Machine & Boiler Works but since we’re not playing BoilerPunk, Steamworks it is. |
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Paul
Evilrobotgames at Gmail.com