GEOGRAPHY
Fall River, Massachusetts is located directly on the border with Rhode Island (the city’s southern boundary is also the State Line) about half way up Narraganset Bay. 
It provided an ideal location for industry because it offered abundant waterpower and easy access to the Atlantic through Mount Hope Bay. From 1812 to 1892 over 50 mills were established along the Quequechan River and the adjacent Mount Hope Bay shoreline.
By 1892, the town was a principal manufacturing center. The residential areas spread out north and south from the central mill district. An accurate view of the layout of the city’s streets in 1893 is available from the U.S. Geological Survey quadrant map of the area. The prominence of the Borden family in Fall River begins to make itself apparent with this map. Borden’s Wharf is a landmark identified just across the state line in Rhode Island. Also, while this map was produced by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey the legend indicates that in part it is based on the Borden surveys of the area.
The quadrent map is at the same time detailed yet lacking in information. It tells us the correct locations of various geographic features of importance. It displays contour lines that give an indication of the vertical characteristics of the territory. Using these contour lines a three dimensional view of the city can created with modern mapping software as can be seen in this example here. Even with the elevations realized in three dimensions the image presented by this map while technically correct still lacks a feel for the social and cultural geography of the community.
A very different image of the city emerges from the panoramic map made in 1873. 
While this map lacks the precision of the quadrant map or the Ward Map that will be shown later, it does show a vibrant inhabited community. More importantly it shows the “social geography” of the city.
First it should be noted that this map is oriented so the viewer is west of the city looking east right down the line of mills that divide the town. The mills are the basis for the city’s economy and every smokestack in the illustration is billowing away. The port area, also important to the economy, is bustling with vessels of all sizes. The depiction of principal civic structures, government buildings, churches, etc. is reasonably accurate. The depiction of residential areas is less accurate but still representative of the various neighborhoods. To the south (the right hand side for this map) the residential sections have multi-story box-like houses placed close together. These box-like structures are multi-family dwellings of a design called two-decker or three-decker common to this part of New England. These are mill workers’ and tradesmen’s houses. To the left (the north) on the map are larger houses on larger lots. These are the residences of the more well to do families.
At the bottom of this panoramic map is a list of the largest mills with the names of owner or president of the mill company. Again note the emphasis on the economic centerpiece of the city. The name Borden appears several times. While none of these are Andrew J. they are his cousins. This leads to the next question: just who was Andrew Jackson Borden?
