Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler (1842-1922)
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts in
December, 1842, Thaddeus Fowler became a runaway at age 15. During the
Civil War, he joined the 21st Regiment of the New York
Volunteers at Elmira, New York, in May, 1861. Wounded at the Second
Battle of Bull Run, he received an honorable discharge and left the army
on crutches, having refused amputation. Following his discharge, he
visited army camps, making tintypes of soldiers before settling in
Madison, Wisconsin in 1864, where he worked with his uncle, J. M.
Fowler, a photographer. In 1870, Fowler established his own panoramic
map firm, creating panoramic maps of many of the surrounding
communities. He also worked for J.J. Stoner, the famous publisher,
during the 1870s. Around 1880, Fowler moved to northern New Jersey,
where he continued to produce panoramic views of cities and towns. In
April, 1885, he moved to Morrisville, Pennsylvania, which became his
headquarters for the next twenty-five years. Fowler produced over 400
panoramic views over the course of his career.
Associated with other panoramic
artists at various times throughout his career, his association with
James B. Moyer, of Myerstown, Pennsylvania, from 1889 to 1902 was
particularly productive. He also published under the imprints Fowler &
Kelly, Fowler & Albert E. Downs, and Fowler & Browning. Fowler created
maps for the artist and publisher, Oakley H. Bailey, who marketed his
prints as “aero views”.
In 1918, while working for Oakley H. Bailey, a
trademark that featured airplanes and a dirigible circling the city
was meant to give the impression that aerial views had been obtained
by their use, but caused some citizens of Allentown, Pennsylvania to
accuse Fowler of being a German spy during WWI. He was actually
jailed due to this suspicion, until members of his immediate family
drove from Morrisville to identify their father, who was not
charged. Thaddeus Fowler died in his eightieth year, 1922,
following a fall on the icy streets of Middletown, New York, where
he was working on another panoramic view of the city. His career
spanned the entire period of panoramic map production, a distinction
shared only by his close friend, Oakley H. Bailey.
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