Published in 1964 from 1963 survey work, the USGS quadrangle titled “Laramie” presents a finely observed portrait of southeastern Wyoming at a pivotal moment in its modern development. At 1:24,000 scale, it captures the city of Laramie with the precision and restraint characteristic of mid-century American topographic mapping. Downtown streets, residential neighborhoods, rail corridors, highways, the University of Wyoming, and the Laramie Airport are all set within a broader landscape of open ground, agricultural tracts, creek bottoms, and rising terrain. The map’s original title is pleasingly direct, yet what it contains is richly layered: a civic, geological, and infrastructural record of a western town shaped by transportation, education, and the surrounding high plains.

The United States Geological Survey brought to this map nearly a century of federal mapping expertise. Founded in 1879, the USGS became central to the systematic depiction of the American landscape, producing maps that served engineers, scientists, planners, landowners, and travelers alike. Its topographic quadrangles are especially admired for their clarity: roads, railroads, watercourses, buildings, and relief are organized into a visual language that is at once technical and elegant. In “Laramie,” that language is particularly effective, balancing the rectilinear order of the city with the irregular forms of rivers, creeks, and contours. The result is not merely a utilitarian document, but a disciplined cartographic study of how settlement rests upon terrain.

Laramie itself appears as the map’s urban anchor, with the University of Wyoming standing out as one of the city’s defining institutions. The city’s grid, downtown core, residential districts, arterial roads, and rail lines reveal the structure of a regional center whose growth was closely tied to education, ranching, rail transport, and highway travel. The railroad, historically vital to Laramie’s development, remains a prominent feature, threading through the mapped landscape with the authority of an older transportation era. Nearby highways, including US Route 287 and the corridor of Interstate 80, point to the increasing dominance of automobile and freight movement in the postwar West, when older railroad towns were being reoriented toward national road networks.

The natural geography is rendered with the subtle power of contour lines, which give the sheet its distinctive topographic character. Around Laramie, the land is far from flat: the map records slopes, ridges, shallow valleys, and the textured approach toward the Laramie Mountains. The Laramie River and Coal Creek provide hydrological structure, tracing low ground through a landscape of varied elevation and use. These watercourses are more than decorative features; they help explain patterns of settlement, agriculture, and transportation. Parks, open lands, and recreational areas appear in relation to the same physical framework, reminding the viewer that Laramie’s urban form is inseparable from the high-elevation Wyoming basin in which it sits.

As a historical document, this map offers a compelling snapshot of Laramie in the early 1960s, before later decades of suburban expansion, highway modification, and institutional growth reshaped the city’s footprint. Its symbols for land use, transportation, drainage, and built features make it possible to read the community as it was organized at that moment: a university town, a railroad town, an airport-served regional hub, and a settlement surrounded by working landscapes. Compared with present-day maps, the 1963 survey reveals changes in infrastructure, population distribution, and the boundaries between urban and rural land. It is a quietly revealing record of a western city poised between historic patterns and modern transformation.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Laramie, WY
• University of Wyoming
• Laramie River
• Coal Creek
• Various residential neighborhoods
• Interstate 80
• US Route 287
• Laramie Airport
• Surrounding agricultural areas
• Laramie Mountains
• Various parks and recreational areas
• Downtown Laramie
• Railroads and stops
• Various highways and arterial roads

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the United States Geological Survey, or USGS.
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Laramie, Wyoming and the surrounding area.
• Surveyed or dated 1963, with a 1964 imprint.
• The USGS is a U.S. government scientific agency known for geological, hydrological, and topographical studies.
• The USGS played a major role in developing detailed mapping across the United States.
• Uses a typical topographic style with contour lines to show elevation changes.
• Shows varied elevations, hills, valleys, and rougher mountainous terrain around Laramie.
• Provides a snapshot of Laramie in the early 1960s, including urban development and land use.
• Useful for comparing historic infrastructure, population growth, and environmental change with present-day maps.
• Includes symbols for different land use types, helping show the area’s geography and infrastructure layout.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.