Agloe, New York
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| Agloe | |
|---|---|
| A General Drafting map location | |
 Fictional Agloe, New York, a copyright trap, shown on a real map of New York published by Exxon in 1998. | |
| First appearance | 1925 |
| Created by | Otto G. Lindberg and Ernest Alpers |
| Genre | Map |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Copyright trap |
| Locations | Agloe General Store (formerly) |
| State | New York |
| County | Delaware County, New York |
| Town | Colchester, New York |
| ZIP code | 12776[1] |
Agloe was originally a fictional hamlet in Colchester, Delaware County, New York, United States, that became an actual landmark after mapmakers made up the community as a phantom settlement, an example of a fictitious entry similar to a trap street, added to the map to catch plagiarism.
Agloe is also known for its role in the American romantic mystery novel Paper Towns by John Green and its film adaptation, as well as The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd.
History
In the 1920s, General Drafting founder Otto G. Lindberg and an assistant, Ernest Alpers, assigned an anagram of their initials to a dirt-road intersection in the Catskill Mountains: NY 206 and Morton Hill Road, north of Roscoe, New York.[2] The town was designed as a "copyright trap" to enable the publishers to detect others copying their maps.
A general store was alleged to exist at the intersection on the map and was given the name Agloe General Store because the name was on the Esso maps.[3] Long time residents and land owners contend that no store ever existed at the location. They believe Rand McNally bought the parcel though a front company to shield themselves from liability.[4] Later, Agloe appeared on a Rand McNally map after the mapmaker got the name of the "hamlet" from the Delaware County administration. When Esso threatened to sue Rand McNally for the assumed copyright infringement which the "trap" had revealed, the latter pointed out that the place had now become real and therefore no infringement could be established.
The store eventually went out of business but the Agloe General Store still appears on Google Maps. Agloe itself continued to appear on maps as recently as the 1990s, but has now been deleted. It briefly appeared on Google Maps.[5] The United States Geological Survey added "Agloe (Not Official)" to the Geographic Names Information System database on February 25, 2014.[6]
In popular culture
Agloe is featured in the 2008 novel Paper Towns by John Green and its 2015 film adaptation. During the film and in the novel, one of the main characters, Margo, runs away from home, leaving personal clues to her friend and neighbor Quentin of where she has gone. He then discovers she is hiding in one of the US's most famous "paper towns": Agloe, New York. The book's name is based on the various ways that Quentin interprets the phrase "paper towns".
Agloe is also featured prominently in the 2022 novel The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd.
References
- ^ "US Postal Code Boundaries". Google. Google Maps. February 3, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ Lackie, John (November 25, 2006). "Copyright traps". New Scientist. 192 (2574) (The Word ed.): 62. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(06)60797-5. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
- ^ Byrne, Ian (March 19, 2006). "Errors on road maps(2)". Petrol Maps. ianbyrne.free-online.co.uk. Archived from the original on September 28, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
- ^ Writer, Staff. "The strange story of Agloe, NY". Times Herald-Record. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
- ^ Krulwich, Robert (March 18, 2014). "An Imaginary Town Becomes Real, Then Not. True Story". NPR. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
- ^ "Agloe (Not Official)". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. February 25, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2015.