History of Walling and Gray Publishing
Henry Francis Walling was an American civil engineer, cartographer, surveyor, and map publisher active from the middle to late 19th century. Walling established himself independently around 1850 and immediately began preparing a series of town plans focusing on Bristol County, near Providence. Buoyed by widespread interest in his plans, Walling expanded his operations to Massachusetts, where, by 1857, he had produced no less than 50 town plans. While Walling’s work focused heavily on city and county maps, he successfully published maps for the State of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine. In 1856, Walling relocated his headquarters to New York City, where he had better access to quality lithographers. During the Civil War, Walling formed a partnership with another prominent map-maker, Ormando Gray. Around 1880, Walling took a post with the U.S. Coast Survey, with whom he worked on various charts until requesting a transfer in 1883 to the newly formed U.S. Geological Survey.
Ormando Wyllis Gray was a mid to late 19th century map publisher who partnered with Walling in the 1860’s. Gray’s first commercial atlas was an 1869 survey of Windhamd and Toland counties, Connecticut. Gray is best known for his state and county atlases of the New England states.
