Andy Woodruff’s new book Boston in 50 Maps goes beyond familiar compilations of public-domain historic maps of Boston, Woodruff’s work offers an engaging, data-driven look at the Hub through 50 original, modern maps. Andy’s maps reveal layers of Boston’s history, changing demographics, and hyper-local culture, from the myth of streets laid out by 17th century cows to the city’s long lost territories. In this conversation, we dive into fascinating corners of the area’s past and present, including what triple-deckers and houses of pizza tell us about historical immigration patterns, why residents can’t seem to agree on the boundaries of their neighborhoods, which areas had better transit access a century ago, and exactly how saturated we are in Dunkin Donuts franchises. Together, we explore how data-driven cartography offers a whole new lens on local history, revealing the stories that both historic maps and traditional prose histories often miss.

Full show notes: http://HUBhistory.com/358/

Support us: http://patreon.com/HUBhistory/

Boston in 50 Maps

Covering four distinct categories (“The Making of Boston,” “The Lay of the Land,” “Getting Around,” and “People and Culture” ), the newly created, original maps in Andy Woodruff’s Boston in 50 Maps investigate all facets of Boston’s past and present. Dig into the city’s history with a guided tour through Revolutionary War sites, landmarks of nineteenth-century Black Boston, and notable “first in the nation” events (like the first recorded UFO sighting). Uncover the structural forces that shaped the social and lived experience of Boston, with maps showing the impact of redlining, urban renewal practices, and the busing crisis of the 1970s. Discover how the city’s boundaries evolved through annexation and landfill and how they’ll continue to change due to coastal flooding risks. Explore some of Boston’s most unique quirks through surprising revelations about the density of Dunkin’ locations, the distinctive architecture of three-deckers, and the spread of the infamous Great Molasses Flood.

Andy Woodruff is a freelance cartographer whose work includes everything from hiking trail maps to data visualizations. He moved to the Boston area in 2008 and learned about his adopted city by mapping it. Soon, he was known as the consummate Boston maps nerd, including contributing to the Bostonography blog, creating maps for Boston Globe Ideas, and serving as the inaugural “designer-in-residence” with the Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library.

We mentioned a lot of past HUB History episodes in this conversation, including…

Boston’s Annexations
Balloons and the First Aerial Photo
The Puritan UFO Sighting
The Mother Brook and the Isle of Boston
Beantown and Boston Baked Beans
Triple-Deckers and the Bellflower Street Fire
Not HUB History, but Jake talked about landmaking on Explain Boston to Me
And in other news, a triple-decker became newsworthy in June