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From the aroma of fresh coffee to the unpleasant whiff of the subway, New York has its own heady mix of signature smells.

While this mixture can, at times, be overpowering, back in the 19th century, smells in the city were far more pungent and permanent than they are today.

So much so, that the health authorities at the time decided to create maps of stenches to show the location of smells from areas such as oil refineries, fat renderers, slaughter houses and gas works.

In the 19th Century. New Yorkers began complaining to the Board of Health about 'the most nauseous, foul, stinking, and pestilential odours'.  As a result, many of the worst-smelling industries ended up in Brooklyn, with the industrial landscape leaving its mark there today. For instance, the Newtown Creek area on the border of Brooklyn and Queens remains the site sewage treatment plant

Now CityLab has found one of these historic maps from 1870 that shows different industrial sites across Manhattan and Brooklyn, as the five boroughs were yet to be consolidated.

But it wasn't just industrial smells that caused problems for New Yorkers.

The map was produced at a time when New York was experiencing unprecedented growth. During the 1860s and 1870s, 2,000 new buildings were constructed each year, as immigration peaked at 200,000 to 300,000 people annually. 

The increase in population meant an increase in waste. Public baths, drinking fountains, and restrooms were only built 1897, and flies plagued the streets.

As a result, New Yorkers began complaining to the Board of Health about 'the most nauseous, foul, stinking, and pestilential odours',

In the 19th century, it was believed that these foul odors carried diseases, so the New York City Metropolitan Board of Health created the map to highlight the areas affected. 

'Trying to show smells, which are not concrete - they're invisible, they're ephemeral, they're always changing - is just a really fascinating cultural project,' says Melanie Kiechle, a historian at Virginia Tech University told Atlantic's CityLab.

The map was produced at a time when New York was experiencing huge growth. During the 1860s and 1870s, 2,000 new buildings were constructed each year, as immigration peaked at 200,000 to 300,000 people annually. Pictured is a a 1858 panorama of the city

The increase in population meant an increase in waste. Public baths and restrooms were built only after 1897, and flies were everywhere. Pictured is an 1884 image of streetcars running past the Astor House Hotel, along Broadway and Vesey Street in Manhattan

Tanvi Misra notes how health officials at the time had to sniff the air to document where the smells were coming from and which way they were blowing.

The map largely highlighted industrial smells and a New York Times reporter at the time described their job with heavy sarcasm, according to a report by Ms Kiechle.

'The homes of these [sickening stenches] are along the shores of the East River, and by dodging in and out of slips with a tug-boat, and by creeping and climbing over oil-lighters and rotten string-pieces, they were finally reached by the committeemen without loss of life or limb,' he said. 

Many of the worst-smelling industries ended up in Brooklyn, with the industrial landscape leaving its mark there today.

For instance, the Newtown Creek area on the border of Brooklyn and Queens remains the site sewage treatment plant.

CityLab notes that winds would still carry smells from Brooklyn to Manhattan, causing problems between regulators in each of the districts. 

Manhattan had some of its own smells to contend with. Meat marketing and processing facilities, for example, were established along the shoreline at the time.

To reduce the smell, the board pushed slaughterhouses north of 40th Street in 1868 and then banned them from between 40th Street  in 1870, according to theChemical Heritage Foundation. 

While the idea that smells carry disease has long passed, authorities are still keen to map areas of the city that contribute to illness. 

Last month, scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College a unveiled 'microbial map' of the city after spending 18 months swabbing turnstiles, ticket kiosks, railings and benches for DNA on the world's largest transport system.

They found 15,152 different types of microorganisms that share the train with its 5.5 million riders, including bubonic plague, dysentery and meningitis. 

An 1889 trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Tanvi Misra notes how health officials at the time had to sniff the air to document where the smells were coming from and which way they were blowing

Manhattan still had some of its own smells to contend with. Meat marketing facilities, for example, were established along the shoreline at the time.To reduce the smell for residents, board pushed slaughterhouses north of 40th Street in 1868 and then banned them from between 40th Street in 1870. Pictured on the left is Wall Street in the 1890's and on the right The Waldorf, which opened March 13, 1893