Park Aerial Surveys Inc. Photograph Collection, ca. 1946-1994
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Park Aerial Surveys Inc.
Title: Photograph Collection, ca. 1946-1994
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these photographs, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection: 0.75 cu. ft. (in 1 cu. ft. box)
Location Number: 025PC1
Historical Note
Park Aerial Surveys Inc. was the successor company to Bowman-Park Aero Company.
In 1920, a Louisville businessman named Abram Hite Bowman (1875-1943) formed a company with pilot Robert Henry Gast (1896-1934) called Bowman-Gast Aero Company. Bowman leased land from the U.S. Government in 1919 to operate their airfield, Bowman Field, which opened in 1921. A few years later, Gast’s enthusiasm for aviation increased, and he moved away from Louisville for bigger opportunities. General interest in commercial aviation was waning, and there was a chance that Bowman Field would close. It was also at this time that W. Sidney Park (1898-1988), a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot, had just returned home to Louisville. Park, a second lieutenant with a knack for photography, did aerial photography work for the Army Air Corps after World War I.
Bowman and Park entered business together in 1921, putting Park’s aviation training to use. They signed a contract with the Louisville Gas and Electric Company to document the progress of their new plant construction, rights-of-way for utility pole lines, subdivisions, etc. Park began taking photographs from a Canadian Jenny airplane with a four-inch by five-inch handheld camera, though he would shortly after switch to K-5 cameras with seven-inch by nine-inch format and focal-plane shutters.
The first contract with the Louisville Gas and Electric Company was the foundation of the Bowman-Park Aero Company and the catalyst for Park’s career in aerial photography. Park encouraged Bowman to accept an Air Corps Reserve Squadron on the airfield, and in 1922 the 465th Pursuit Squadron (Reserve) began operations at Bowman Field, thereby saving the airport. Frank C. Riley (1908-1995), a civil engineer, joined the company in 1935 after being laid off from the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Park bought out Bowman and changed the company name to Park Aerial Surveys in 1937. Riley served as vice president and general manager of the company until 1976. He and Park were business partners for 47 years.
Park was also involved in reimagining aerial cameras and improving the quality and development of aerial photographs. Park maintained up-to-date technology within his airplanes. He built a photo trainer used to help the U.S. Army train incoming soldiers as aerial photographers during World War II. The company closed from 1942 to 1945, while Park served as an Army Air Corps colonel at an intelligence office in England and Riley joined the Marine Corps.
The company reopened after the war and began using husband-and-wife photo crews, which proved to be very successful at adding stability to working conditions. Park Aerial Surveys began consulting engineering firms and photogrammetric mapping businesses in the design and planning for highways and roads. They did contract work for several U. S. Government agencies, including the USGS and the U.S. Forest Service. The company operated throughout the continental United States and in Alaska, with contract work in both the Bahamas and Vietnam. The company was sold to J. Edwin Rankin in 1973 and ceased operations sometime in the 1990s.
Sources
Frank Riley, “Photogrammetric Pioneers: Park Aerial Surveys Inc.,” Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 50, no. 9 (1984): pp. 1293-4.
Scope and Content Note
Collection of black-and-white contact prints of aerial photographs taken by Park Aerial Surveys Inc. in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Southern Indiana from the 1940s to the 1990s. This group of photographs was purchased by the EI Group Inc. and/or Environmental Site Assessments Inc. for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments in the vicinity of Jefferson County. The collection has maintained the original order, with the folder numbers corresponding to the original map key that is stored at the front of the collection. Photographs document growth and development throughout the city in the twentieth century. Each set of locations has an aerial photograph from 1946/1947, 1951, 1963, 1970, 1980, and 1994 (unless noted otherwise). See the folder list below for the specific areas photographed.
Note about collection
Folders 12 and 57 were missing from the collection. These numbers also do not appear on the map key, so it is likely that they did not exist. To lessen confusion with the map key, they have been kept in the folder list with the title “This folder does not exist.”
Folder List
Box 1
Folder 1: Masonic Homes and Frankfort Ave., 1946-1994
Folder 2: Bluegrass Industrial Park, 1947-1994
Folder 3: National Tpke. and Outer Loop, 1951-1994
Folder 4: Buechel Bank Rd. and GE Appliance Park, 1946-1994
Folder 5: Westport Rd. and Chamberlain Ln., 1947-1994
Folder 6: Old Six Mile Ln. and Taylorsville Rd., 1947-1994
Folder 7: Middletown Industrial Blvd., 1947-1994
Includes a 7.5-Minute Series USGS topographic map of Jeffersontown Quadrangle
Folder 8: Dixie Hwy. and Pendleton Rd., 1947-1994
Includes a topographic map of the Kosmosdale neighborhood of Louisville
Folder 9: Jennings Ln. and Bishop Ln., 1946-1994
Folder 10: Dixie Hwy. and Lower Hunter’s Trace, 1946-1994
Folder 11: Eastern Blvd. (Clarksville, Ind.), 1951-1994
Includes a 7.5-Minute Series USGS topographic map of Clarksville
Folder 12: This folder does not exist.
Folder 13: Interstate 264 and S. Wheatmore Dr., 1946-1994
Includes a 7.5-Minute Series USGS topographic map of the S. Wheatmore Dr. area
Folder 14: St. Andrew’s Church Rd., 1951-1994
Includes a 7.5-Minute Series USGS topographic map of St. Andrew’s Church Rd.
Folder 15: Interstate 264 and Dutchmans Ln., 1946-1994
Folder 16: Bells Ln. and 35th St., 1946-1994
Folder 17: Plantside Dr., Bunsen Pkwy., and Interstate 64., 1947-1994
Folder 18: Ulrich Ave. and Fern Valley Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 19: Cane Run Rd. and Port Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 20: Tucker Station Rd. and Taylorsville Rd., 1947-1994
Folder 21: Johnsontown Rd. and Terry Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 22: Timberwood Cir. and Whetstone Way, 1947-1994
Folder 23: Anchorage, 1947-1994
Includes a topographic map of Anchorage. Streets are unspecified but the area appears to be near E. P. Tom Sawyer Park
Folder 24: Interstate 264 and Shelbyville Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 25: Lower River Rd. and Marie Anna Dr., 1946-1994
Folder 26: Westport Rd. and Hurstbourne Pkwy., 1947-1994
Folder 27: Crittenden Dr., 1946-1994
Louisville Standiford Field/Louisville International Airport
Folder 28: Watterson Trail and Ruckriegel Pkwy., 1947-1994
Folder 29: Cane Run Rd. and Lower Hunter’s Trace, 1946-1994
Folder 30: Ind. State Road 62 and McCulloch Pike, 1951-1994
Folder 31: Wickfield Dr., 1947-1994
Folder 32: Dixie Hwy. and Orell Rd., 1951-1994
Folder 33: Hikes Ln. and Buechel Bypass, 1946-1994
Folder 34: LaGrange Rd. and Houston Ln., 1947-1994
Folder 35: Bardstown Rd. and Buechel Ave., 1946-1994
Folder 36: Penile Rd., 1951-1994
Folder 37: Preston Hwy. and Trio Ave., 1946-1994
Folder 38: New LaGrange Rd. and Wood Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 39: Shelbyville Rd. and Evergreen Rd., 1947-1994
Includes a 7.5-Minute Series USGS topographic map
Folder 40: Wessex Pl. and Hurstbourne Pkwy., 1946-1980
Folder 41: Westport Rd. and Collins Ln., 1947-1994
Folder 42: Gagel Ave., De Mel Ave., and Manslick Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 43: Ballardsville Rd. and Orchard Grass Blvd., 1947-1994
Folder 44: Lime Kiln Ln., 1946-1994
Folder 45: Outer Loop and Old Shepherdsville Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 46: Cane Run Rd. and Distribution Dr., 1946-1994
Folder 47: Unidentified location, 1946-1994
The area is also not identified on the map key
Folder 48: Interstate 64 and Blankenbaker Pkwy., 1947-1994
Folder 49: Murphy Ln. and Ballardsville Rd., 1947-1994
Folder 50: Douglass Hills, 1947-1994
Folder 51: Interstate 265 and Ballardsville Rd., 1947-1994
Folder 52: Aiken Rd. and Avoca Rd., 1947-1994
Folder 53: Mud Ln. and Preston Hwy., 1951-1994
Folder 54: Six Mile Ln. and Summerfield Cir., 1947-1994
Folder 55: Button Ln. and LaGrange Rd., 1970-1994
Folder 56: S. English Station Rd. and Taylorsville Rd., 1951-1994
Folder 57: This folder does not exist.
Folder 58: Gene Snyder Fwy. and Beulah Church Rd., 1971-1994
Folder 59: Gene Snyder Fwy. And Bardstown Rd., 1951-1994
Folder 60: Interstate 264 and Poplar Level Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 61: Fairdale, 1946-1994
Folder 62: N. English Station Rd. and LaGrange Rd., 1947-1994
Folder 63: Brentlinger Rd. and Dobson Ln., 1947-1994
Folder 64: Fegenbush Ln. and Glaser Ln., 1947-1994
Folder 65: Vaughn Mill Rd. and Outer Loop, 1951-1994
Folder 66: Port Rd. and Loop Rd. (Jeffersonville, Ind.), 1946-1994
Folder 67: Westport Rd. and Hurstbourne Pkwy., 1947-1994
Folder 68: Truckers Blvd. and Hamburg Pike (Jeffersonville, Ind.), 1951-1994
Folder 69: E. Manslick and Cherriville Rd., 1951-1994
Folder 70: S. Hurstbourne Pkwy. and Greene Way, 1947-1994
Folder 71: Grade Ln. north of Outer Loop, 1946-1994
Folder 72: Alyssum Dr. and Greenwood Rd., 1946-1994
Folder 73: Interstate 64 and Hurstbourne Pkwy., 1946-1994
Folder 74: Canal St. and Preston Hwy., 1946-1994
Folder 75: Bells Ln., 1946-1994
Folder 76: Flat Rock Rd. and Aiken Rd., 1947-1994
Folder 77: Hitt Ln., 1947-1994
Folder 78: New Albany, Ind., 1963, 1973, 1994
Includes a topographical map of New Albany by the U.S. Department of the Interior
Folder 79: Industrial Blvd. and Progress Blvd. (New Albany, Ind.), 1951-1994
Folder 80: Northgate Blvd. (New Albany, Ind.), 1951-1973
Folder 81: 7th Street Rd. and Dixie Hwy., 1951-1994
Not identified on map key
Folder 82: Greenbelt Hwy. and Terry Rd., 1937-1982
Compared to a GPS map in 2025, it appears to be Greenbelt Highway along the Ohio River. The site circled in the photograph is of Logistics Dr.
Folder 83: Simpsonville, 1966-1998
Folder 84: Goshen Ln. and US-42, 1970-1994
Folder 85: Miscellaneous
Includes miscellaneous USGS hydrologic investigations atlases of Kentucky and local geologic maps
Subject Headings
Aerial photogrammetry.
Aerial photographs.
Aerial photography.
Aerial photography in city planning.
Aerial photography in geography.
Aerial photography in road surveying.
Bowman, Abram Hite, 1875-1943.
Gast, Robert Henry, 1896-1934.
Goshen (Ky.)
Jefferson County (Ky.)
Jeffersontown (Ky.)
Louisville (Ky.)
New Albany (Ind.)
Park, W. Sidney, 1898-1988.
Riley, Francis Collins, 1908-1995
Roads.
Shelby County (Ky.)