Antique Map of Milwaukee, The Cream City, Rand McNally, 1899

Name: Antique Map of Milwaukee, The Cream City, Rand McNally, 1899
Brand: Rand McNally
SKU: BG-12793-2-46
Price: 330 USD
Availability: InStock

$330

€295 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Date: 1899
Maker: Rand McNally
Kind: Maps
Technique: Lithograph
Color: Printed color
Size: 52 × 36 cm (20.5 × 14.2 in)
Condition: Good. Fair to good condition for its age. Light age toning, small chips and short tears along the upper edge, a creased upper right corner and a small pink mark. Please review the images for further condition details.
Period: The Gilded Age
Places: Wisconsin
Reference: BG-12793-2-46

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

Milwaukee's harbor and river valleys are the focus of this antique map of Milwaukee, published by Rand McNally in 1899 on page 233 of its indexed atlas, the incorporated city printed in pink along the Lake Michigan shore.

The street grid runs back from the harbor and the mouth of the Milwaukee River to the yellow-tinted townships beyond the city limits. The river and its Menomonee and Kinnickinnic branches cut diagonally through the plan, with the stockyards and the Milwaukee Road freight yards along the Menomonee valley, and the harbor entrance, lighthouse and life-saving station marked where the river meets the lake.

The civic core is shown in the small black blocks used for public buildings, the Court House, City Hall, Custom House, Post Office and Public Library among them, clustered a few blocks back from the river. The parks, Lincoln Park and the harbor-front City Park to the north, and Mitchell, Clark, Kosciuszko and Rose Hill parks to the south, are printed in green, along with Forest Home and several other cemeteries on the outskirts. Concordia College is marked on the west side and Notre Dame Convent near the lakefront. The river and lake are printed in blue, and scale bars in miles and kilometers appear in the lower right margin.

The publisher, Rand, McNally and Company of Chicago, began as a printing business founded by William Rand in the 1850s and joined by Andrew McNally. By the time of the 1899 indexed atlas it ranked among the leading American map publishers, known above all for railroad and commercial maps that were revised from one issue to the next.

Technically the sheet is a lithograph with printed color: the outline was printed in black and the colors were printed over it, so none of the coloring was added by hand. Once framed, this antique map of Milwaukee would suit a home or office in the city today, and it will appeal to collectors of American city plans and local history.

The sheet is in fair to good condition for its age, with light age toning, small chips and short tears along the upper edge, a creased upper right corner and a small pink mark. Please review the images for further condition details.

This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.

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