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 Today,
we're spoiled by millions of miles of paved surfaces
peppered with even more road signs giving us the heads
up miles in advance of a turnoff. With just basic
geographical knowledge, just about any youngster could
get from Albany, NY to Biloxi, MS, or from Flagstaff, AZ
to Butte, MT without ever picking up a map. In the
early days of automobiles, it was very different.
Paved roads turned to unmarked paths with little
warning, the interstate system was still forty years
from being conceived and finding gas in a strange area
sometimes would prove impossible.
The Golden Age of the Road Map 1930-1940
In the 1930's, automobiles were reliable enough for
families to put their trust in them to venture out
hundreds of miles from home. This was a boon for
American society who, up until now, 100 miles from home
may has well been another country.
Every car needs gas...and every gas station had road
maps! To this day, the gas station symbolizes the
traveler's pit-stop and information booth...be it a
Circle K Outside of Bakersfield or a Casey's in downtown
Des Moines. Today, however the gas station's stock
of area maps is just a sideline, while in the 1930's it
was a selling point!
Map collectors will find a good
selection of road maps in our store with honest dating.
We are in the process of adding new, hi-res photos of
the maps, but if you see a map you're interested in,
don't hesitate to inquire about it if the photos just
aren't enough. I've found maps to be one of the
most difficult things to accurately represent with
digital photography. To really give the buyer an
accurate view of the map, the photos need to be very
large, which poses the problem of both disk space and
slow-load times for those on dial-up networks. We
will be adding clickable links to virtually every map
page for a hi-res window to open.
Jump to
our
Vintage Road Maps
department, or...
Have a look at our
Travel department with trinkets, time tables, and
tourist brochures.
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