Published in 1893 under the concise original title “Geneva,” this United States Geological Survey map presents the Lake Geneva region of southeastern Wisconsin at a richly informative 1:62,500 scale. It captures a landscape poised between rural settlement and resort-era transformation, with Geneva Lake occupying the visual and geographic center of the composition. The surrounding towns—Lake Geneva, Bloomfield, Spring Prairie, Wheatland, Lafayette, Rochester, Wilmot, and Elkhorn—appear within a carefully measured network of roads, waterways, and elevations. Created during a formative period in American scientific cartography, the map reflects the USGS commitment to systematic national mapping, translating local terrain into a precise topographical record. For the modern viewer, it offers both geographic clarity and a rare late nineteenth-century portrait of one of Wisconsin’s most celebrated lake districts.

The United States Geological Survey, established in 1879, brought a new rigor to American mapmaking, combining field survey, scientific observation, and standardized cartographic design. This map exemplifies that approach: elevation is articulated through contour lines, water features are distinguished with clarity, and settlements are positioned within a disciplined geographic framework. Unlike decorative county maps of the same era, the USGS topographic style privileges measured landscape over boosterish embellishment, yet it possesses its own austere beauty. The lettering, linework, and color conventions give the map an elegant technical character, revealing not only where towns and lakes lay, but how the land itself rose, dipped, drained, and guided human movement. It is a map made for accuracy, but one that now reads as an object of historical refinement.

Geneva Lake—often called Lake Geneva after the resort city on its shore—was already emerging in the late nineteenth century as one of the Midwest’s most desirable retreats. Its clear waters, rolling margins, and relative proximity to Chicago and Milwaukee made it a favored destination for leisure, boating, and lakeside estates. On this map, however, the lake is still embedded in a broader agricultural and small-town landscape. The surrounding countryside is traced through roads, contours, ponds, and streams, suggesting a region not yet dominated by later suburban and recreational development. The map preserves the geography of an earlier Lake Geneva: a place where natural beauty, rural settlement, and expanding transportation routes were beginning to converge into a distinct regional identity.

Beyond Geneva Lake itself, the map records a constellation of communities that shaped the area’s everyday life. Elkhorn appears as an important inland town, while Bloomfield, Spring Prairie, Wheatland, Lafayette, Rochester, and Wilmot mark a pattern of settlement typical of southeastern Wisconsin in the post-frontier decades. Roads link these places across gently varied terrain, reflecting the practical networks that connected farms, mills, markets, churches, and rail-access points. Smaller lakes and ponds punctuate the landscape, hinting at glacial origins and the complex hydrology of the region. The contour lines reveal subtle uplands and drainage patterns, making visible the physical structure beneath the familiar names. In this way, the map functions as both a civic document and a natural history of the district.

Historically, the 1893 “Geneva” map is especially compelling because it records the region before the full intensity of twentieth-century development. Since its publication, the Lake Geneva area has become more urbanized, more recreationally oriented, and more closely tied to seasonal tourism and metropolitan expansion. Yet the essential framework shown here—the lake, the towns, the roads, the rolling ground—remains recognizable. That tension between continuity and change gives the map much of its appeal. It allows viewers to compare the modern resort landscape with its earlier rural form, when the USGS was still assembling a scientific picture of the nation county by county, quadrangle by quadrangle. As a historical document, it captures a landscape at the moment when geography, leisure, and settlement were beginning to reshape one another.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Lake Geneva
• Wilmot
• Bloomfield
• Spring Prairie
• Rochester
• Lafayette
• Wheatland
• Elkhorn
• Geneva Lake
• Various unnamed lakes and ponds
• Roadways connecting these towns and landmarks

Historical context & cartographic details

• Published in 1893 by the US Geological Survey (USGS).
• Historical 1:62,500 topographical map showing Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and the surrounding area.
• Produced by the USGS, known for high-quality cartographic work and scientific studies of natural resources and hazards in the United States.
• Uses contour lines and color coding to show elevation and water bodies.
• Likely includes ornate lettering for place names, typical of maps from this period.
• Shows varied terrain, marked elevations, waterways, and geological features through contour lines.
• Records the Lake Geneva area before later urbanization and recreational development changed the surrounding landscape.
• Reflects the region’s late 19th-century geography and its role in documenting local land use, settlement, and natural features.

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.