He was in town for only a few days in 1892, but Clemens J. Pauli left behind a gift treasured by local historians.
The artist, photographer and printer created the panoramic, or illustrated, map that shows turn-of-the-century Princeton in remarkable detail.
The map style is often described as a “bird’s-eye view” of the community. The artists who created the maps like these in Wisconsin and elsewhere were known as viewmakers.
Cornell University professor John Reps in 1984 published an exhaustive study, “Views and Viewmakers of Urban America,” about the talented artists such as Pauli who walked the American countryside and drew hundreds of maps of small towns and big cities from the Civil War to the 1920s.
Pauli was born in Germany and immigrated to the U.S. in 1867. He worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Davenport, Iowa, as a draftsman from 1868-1875. He moved to Milwaukee and listed his occupation as civil engineer in the 1876 city directory. He produced a view of Milwaukee in 1876 and formed a partnership in a lithography printing business in 1878.
“Clemens J. Pauli, who briefly joined the ranks of view artists in 1876 and 1877, established with Adam Beck the firm of Beck & Pauli in Milwaukee,” according to Reps. “Hundreds of city views came from their presses, including nearly all of the more than three hundred lithographs of towns and cities in thirty-three states and four provinces published by J.J. Stoner, who maintained his business address in nearby Madison but traveled extensively to promote sales of his views.”
Alfred von Cotzhausen, a lawyer and businessman, joined Beck and Pauli as bookkeeper in 1884.
According to Peter C. Merrill, who compiled the biographical dictionary “German-American Artists in Early Milwaukee” (1997, University of Wisconsin-Madison), von Cotzhausen instigated a reorganization and reincorporation of Beck and Pauli Publishing that forced out Pauli in 1886. Beck became president of the company and von Cozhausen became secretary and treasurer. The firm went out of business in 1906.
Pauli remained in business after the split as C.J. Pauli & Co. and listed his occupation as artist, lithographer and publisher in later city directories. When traveling, he also served as salesman, gathering “subscriptions” in each community to pay for its map.
Reps described the process used by Pauli and other viewmakers: “The artist, meanwhile, was busy with the arduous task of sketching every building in town. Although he may have used whatever elevated viewpoints existed, in most cases the artist walked the streets and recorded what he saw in his sketchbook. From a town map or, if the place had been platted in the usual checkerboard pattern, from his own simple measurements and observations, the artist constructed a perspective grid showing the town’s streets. On this he redrew the buildings from his sketches, taking care to make each one the correct size. From this rough sketch of the entire town the artist then produced a more finished and attractive drawing. He exhibited this drawing to obtain subscriptions, and if residents called his attention to errors or omissions, he made needed corrections. The artist or his agent then sent or brought the drawing to the printer.”
Once the final drawing was done, it went to the lithographer. The entire drawing had to be redrawn in crayon on a limestone plate and etched. A limited number of prints, based on sales, were made and delivered. Later, printers used aluminum plates instead of limestone.
When Pauli visited this area in 1892, he had shifted from lithography to photogravure printing.
Ripon Commonwealth, January 15, 1892 – “Mr. C. J. Pauli, of Milwaukee, has been engaged for some days making a perspective drawing of our town. He has shown us a complete picture of Ann Arbor, Mich., made last year and we can assure the public that the work he does is very creditable indeed. It is not a lithograph but a photogravure, a process much to be preferred to lithographing. In the same manner Ripon will be made and we think that a work of that kind will take well among our citizens. … We wish Mr. Pauli success in his undertaking. Next week he will be able to show a proof of his drawing and solicit orders.”
Princeton Republic, April 21, 1892 – “Mr. C. J. Pauli is back here with a proof of the view of Princeton. It is a fine work and now is the time to secure a map of the city. It is printed by the photogravure process and can be placed in every house at a nominal price.”
Twenty-nine businesses, six churches, two schools, one fire house and one post office are listed on the Princeton map’s legend. F.T. Yahr paid extra for a vignette featuring his house at 867 West Main Street.
The significant buildings in the view – whether the fire engine house, Turner Hall, downtown buildings, churches, etc., even my house! – are remarkably accurate, in my humble opinion.
Pauli also published maps of Ripon, Berlin, Horicon, West Bend, Cedarburg and Milwaukee in 1892.
He published fewer views in each of the next three years and only three views – Platteville, Mineral Point and Appleton – in 1896. He died in December 1896 at age 61.
The Princeton Historical Society in recent years sold copies of the Pauli map. It can also be found on various sites online.
Please let me know if you spot any errors in my reporting.
Thank you for caring and reading about local history.