- Title: RAND McNALLY STANDARD MAP OF TEXAS
- Author: Rand McNally & Company
- Date: c.1920
- Condition: Exhibits creasing, separations at folds, areas of paper loss, and edge tears
- Inches: 36 1/2 x 25 7/8 [Image]
- Centimeters: 92.71 x 65.72 [Paper]
- Product ID: 308521
This folding map of Texas meticulously details county boundaries, major cities and towns, extensive railroad lines, and key geographical features prevalent during that era. Insets offer additional detail for specific regions, including a more focused view of the El Paso area and the lower Rio Grande Valley. The map also features a comprehensive index of Texas railroads printed along the bottom, highlighting the importance of railroad transportation in the state’s early twentieth-century development. Rendered in fine detail with county lines and railroad routes clearly marked, this map serves as a snapshot of Texas’s administrative and transportation infrastructure in the early 20th century.
Background on Creator
In 1856, William H. Rand opened a Chicago print shop, hiring Irish immigrant Andrew McNally as a printer two years later. They established a relationship with the Chicago Tribune’s predecessor, soon taking over its printing operation in full. Eventually, in 1868 Rand, McNally, and Rand’s nephew George Amos Poole bought out the Tribune and founded Rand, McNally & Co. Now with significant printing experience under their belt, the three men embarked on several publishing endeavors, capitalizing on the massive success of Chicago’s railroad industry by printing tickets, timetables, and railroad guides. Rand, McNally & Co.’s cartographic enterprise began as an offshoot of their existing publishing business; it was not until 1872 that the company printed its first map, a wax engraving that appeared in the company’s December Railroad Guide. Thanks to the low cost and ease of production associated with wax engravings, the firm quickly became the largest commercial publisher in the United States and to this day continues to produce quality atlases, maps, and globes.