Rand, McNally & Co.’s Wisconsin, issued in 1889, is presented here in its 18th edition—a testament to continuous refinement at a moment when the Badger State was booming. Across the sheet, counties are crisply defined in printed color, giving immediate visual order to Wisconsin’s political landscape while preserving an elegant harmony of tones. A notable scholarly touch is the inclusion of meridians from both Washington and Greenwich, reflecting a transitional era in global cartographic standards. Railroads course through the composition with deliberate emphasis, the steel web that tied town and countryside into a single economic organism. Hachures bring the terrain to life, casting light and shadow over ridges and valleys so that the state’s varied relief reads with a tactile, three-dimensional immediacy.

The map embraces Wisconsin in full: from the Lake Michigan littoral to the Mississippi boundary, and from the Fox-Winnebago basin to the rolling interior. Rivers and lakes are rendered with nuanced shading that hints at depth and flow, while the hachured uplands suggest the muscular contours of the Driftless country and other broken terrains. Notable cities punctuate the counties—Milwaukee commanding the southeast, Madison poised between its lakes at the capital, Green Bay guarding a storied harbor, and the Fox River corridor stitching together Appleton and Oshkosh. Along the lakefront, Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan, and Waukesha inland testify to the state’s urban-rural interplay, each seat indexed precisely within its county frame.

Railroads are the starring infrastructure, diagrammed with the clarity of a timetable writ large. Trunk lines radiate from Milwaukee toward Madison and the Fox River Valley, while parallel corridors shadow the Lake Michigan shore to knit Racine, Kenosha, and Sheboygan into broader Midwestern circuits. Branches thread the interior, linking depots, mills, and market towns, revealing how grain, timber, and manufactured goods flowed to ports and interchange yards. Junctions, sidings, and named stations appear as dense constellations, mirroring the settlement pattern of the late nineteenth century. Seen together, these routes narrate Wisconsin’s transition from frontier to networked commonwealth, capturing the sinews of commerce that underwrote civic growth, immigration, and the rise of new county seats.

At the helm was Rand McNally and Company, by 1889 already a premier American cartographic house with deep roots in railroad printing and school atlases. Their editorial discipline shows in the careful synchronization of political boundaries, transportation updates, and geographic reference lines. The dual meridian scheme—Washington for American usage and Greenwich for international concord—marks a bright moment in cartography when national habits yielded to global standardization after the 1884 meridian conference. Successive editions sharpened accuracy and nomenclature, ensuring the map served classrooms, boardrooms, and courthouses alike. Within this lineage, the Wisconsin sheet balances utility and clarity, distilling complex data into a legible, civic-minded portrait of the state.

Design choices heighten both beauty and comprehension. Printed colors separate counties without overwhelming the typography, which tiers elegantly from prominent city names to smaller town labels and river scripts that seem to follow the current. The measured grid of meridians and parallels steadies the eye, while hachures lend sculptural depth to ridges and valleys, guiding the reader from the lake shore inward to the rolling interior. Watercourses are shaded with care, so that the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, and the lakes they feed, read as connective tissue across jurisdictions. The result is a poised composition: a late-nineteenth-century atlas aesthetic refined to clarity, and a richly informed snapshot of Wisconsin at the height of its formative growth.

Cities and towns on this map

• Milwaukee County: Milwaukee
• Dane County: Madison
• Brown County: Green Bay
• Waukesha County: Waukesha
• Racine County: Racine
• Kenosha County: Kenosha
• Outagamie County: Appleton
• Winnebago County: Oshkosh
• Sheboygan County: Sheboygan

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Distinct county boundaries outlined in color.
• Major railroads depicted, highlighting transportation routes.
• Reference lines for meridians from Washington and Greenwich.
• Representation of lakes and rivers with varied shading.
• Use of hachures to convey terrain elevation and relief.
• Notable cities indicated within individual counties.

Historical and design context

• Date of Creation: 1889
• Historical Significance: The 18th edition indicates the map's sustained importance in documenting Wisconsin's geography and infrastructure during a time of growth and development in the late 19th century.
• Mapmaker/Publisher: Rand McNally and Company — Rand McNally developed into a leading map publishing company known for its detailed cartography and educational materials.
• Geographic Coverage: The map covers the entire state of Wisconsin, delineating counties and significant geographic features.
• Topics and Themes: Political boundaries and county divisions; transportation infrastructure, particularly railroads; topographical features illustrated using hachures.
• Design/Style: The map incorporates printed colors, adding vibrancy and clarity to the visual representation of political and physical features.

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 70in (180cm). 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.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

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.