Sometimes, mapmakers make small, intentional errors in their maps to thwart their competitors from copying them. These “copyright traps” allow mapmakers to sue for copyright infringement if the intentional error shows up on a competitor’s map — it’s like a watermark that only the mapmaker knows about. These errors usually take the form of “phantom settlements” or “paper towns,” which are small towns that don’t exist. This IFOD is the story of a phantom settlement that came to life.

Before GPS, People Used Maps

Before we had GPS in our cars and our smartphones, people used physical, printed maps to find their way. These maps usually took the form of atlases or foldup maps. You could get a map of the state you were in from a gas station, and they were usually free. A car’s glove compartment usually had multiple maps of your state and others to which you traveled.

From the 1920s to the 1970s, there were three major map publishers in the U.S.: Rand McNally, H.M. Gousha, and General Drafting Corporation. Here’s a foldup map of New York that Esso gas stations provided:

Agloe, New York

Beginning with the 1937 edition of their foldup map of New York (similar to the one shown above), the General Drafting Corporation added a phantom settlement at the intersection of two dirt roads a few miles from Roscoe, New York. The two primary cartographers named this fictitious town “Agloe” which is an anagram of their initials.

In the 1950s, a map of New York produced by Rand McNally included the town of Agloe, a seemingly straightforward proof of copyright infringement. But, it turned out that Rand McNally was innocent because Agloe had become a real place.

After General Drafting named that dirt road intersection Agloe, locals began calling the area Agloe. In the 1930s, a fishing lodge near the dirt road intersection named itself “Agloe Lodge.” Then, a general store was built at the intersection and named the “Agloe General Store,” and the name of the store was registered with the county administrators. And then, a few houses popped up near the store, and a little hamlet was born, and some people called it Agloe.

Rand McNally claimed that they didn’t copy the General Drafting map. Rather, they got their information about Agloe from the county where Agloe was located. Thus, there was no copyright infringement.

The Agloe General Store closed decades ago, but you can find it on Google Maps — I guess the Google people think it’s fun to show a remnant of the town that wasn’t, then was, and then wasn’t again. Here’s a link to the Agloe General Store on Google Maps: Link.