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Map of the Village of Fonda, Montgomery County.
New York: Miller & Co.’s lith, 46 Merch. Ex. 1835. Lithograph, 21.75” x 33” plus margins. Light redrawing of boundary lines, a few X marks, and three pencil inscriptions. CONDITION: Good, creased, repaired splitting along old folds, moderately soiled, recently backed with Japanese tissue. An apparently unrecorded promotional map showing lots for sale in the town of Fonda, New York—founded by the ancestors of the Fonda family of movie fame—and including period inscriptions relating to members of the family. Oriented with northeast at the top, this plat map shows nearly 700 lots in the town of Fonda, which is bordered by Cayudutta Creek and its tributaries on the left and by Mohawk River below. A group of sixteen lots in the upper right include the descriptive text: “Elevated ground commanding an extensive & beautiful prospect.” Buildings depicted include hotels, stores, a railroad depot, factories along Cayudutta Creek, residences, and a law office. Other details are street names, parks, and bridges. Passing through the middle of the town are the Utica & Schenectady Railroad and the Mohawk Turnpike. Several roads are indicated as leading north to Johnstown, located less than five miles away. Across the Mohawk River (which flows eastward, as indicated by an arrow) in the lower right is the village of Fultonville, through which runs the Erie Canal (completed in 1825). Fultonville was incorporated 1848 and was named after steamboat inventor Robert Fulton. Fonda was incorporated two years later, in 1850. One early annotation identifies a property (#319) belonging to “P. H. + Henry Fonda,” and another annotation reads “Douw Fonda.” The ancestors of actor Henry Fonda (1905–1982) and his actor children Jane and Peter Fonda migrated from Italy to Holland and then to America in 1642. Founding the town of Fonda in the late seventeenth century, they were some of the first Dutch settlers in upstate New York. By the end of the nineteenth century, the majority of the Fonda family had emigrated to Nebraska, where Henry was born. The text below the title discusses the town and its connections to land and water transportation; surrounding agriculture and timber industries; prospects for commerce; and water power: The Village of Fonda is situated on the north bank of the Mohawk River in the town of Johnston Montgomery County. It is within one eighth of a mile of the Erie Canal at Fultonville, with which place it is connected but across the Mohawk. The Utica & Schenectady Rail Road & the Mohawk Turnpike pass thro’ its centre. The Rail Road Company have fixed upon this as a stopping place, changing their locomotives receiving passengers &c which must make it one of one of the most important places on the route. It is near the geographical centre of the County & is the actual centre as regards the means of communication. The Cayudutta Creek a large stream unites with the Mohawk at this place affording water sufficient to propel machinery for manufacturing purposes of a large extent in addition to the works now in operation. Its position is such as to make it the natural outlet, market place and depot for an extensive circuit of flourishing agricultural country as well as for the immense forests of valuable timber in the north part of the State. The agricultural, commercial & manufacturing advantages of this Village render it one of the most eligible inland places west of Albany & warrant the belief that it will become at no distant period one of the most flourishing towns in the country. Fonda would become a transportation nexus and a locus of commercial, agricultural, and industrial activity, and grew in population. In the twentieth century, its economy transitioned “from manufacturing and agriculture to service and tourism. The town’s proximity to the Adirondack Mountains and the Mohawk River made it a popular destination for outdoor recreation and tourism…Today, Fonda is a small town with a population of about 698 people and a strong sense of community” (“History”). No copies are recorded in OCLC, nor do Google searches yield any examples. A rare and appealing map of the original seat of the ancestors of a prominent Hollywood family REFERENCES: “History” at Village of Fonda online; Bosworth, Patricia, Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), pp. 18–19.
Item #9416
Price: $1,750.00
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