I just made my first-ever purchase on eBay! It’s an aerial view of Great Falls from 1891:
This map is a large scale reproduction of an original bird’s-eye view of Great Falls, Montana originally published by American Publishing Company. Measures 49″ x 35″
There’s a slightly smaller version still available for purchase, too, if you like this one.


Being that 1891 was before the Wright Brothers, do you know from where the picture was taken? I’d guess hot-air balloon, especially since it appears to be too great a height to be a structure of that period.
I think it’s a drawing, to illustrate Paris Gibson’s plans. One of the local restaurants used to print it on their placemats. Eddie’s? 4-Bs? 3D?
We used to have one of these kicking around here in the old homestead.
Be afraid – be very afraid. How do you think I ended up with my postcard collections?!
Very cool!
Yeah, when I looked at the larger version, I realized it wasn’t a photograph.
I remember when I was in school (late 1970s), I saw a panoramic photograph of my hometown’s downtown section taken in the 1920s. You could compare it to the then-present downtown. Way cool.