Lucky Find on T-bay: A Nice 1925 Rand McNally Missouri Road Map

[CudaMan]

I saw this on Ebay last week and just had to have it. It is a 1925 Rand McNally road map of Missouri. It folds to standard road map size, but the main map insert unfolds to 28.5 x 34.5 inches.

The road from St. Louis, MO to Hillsboro, MO (now highway 21) is just listed as "Trail #3", I wonder if it was still a dirt road back then?

[Dan Hatch]

If you are in to old maps and touring books you should look at some "Automobile Blue Books". No, these are not about car prices for trade in. They are tour books for when there were no road signs. Started in 1900 or 1901, I think and later became AAA. You could find them at swap meets, but have not seen any as of late. The are some on Tbay all the time. You should check them out. Thanks, Dan

[Steve Jelf]

Yes, I'm sure Old Missouri 21 would have been mostly unpaved, possibly paved in and near towns. One of our county roads here was part of US 166 when the numbering system was introduced in November of 1926. Later the designation was reassigned to another road, and the former US highway remains unpaved today.

[Bill Dizer]

Before automobiles there were decent road maps for many states put out by the League of American Wheelmen, aka the L.A.W! The LAW started the good roads movement, and fought in court for the right to ride bikes on public roads. The roads were marked as unimproved or dirt, improved or gravel, or paved. Railroads were shown. Hills were marked in places. I have several states' maps. Most are 1896-1900.

[PierreDesrochers]

Thanks Dan...very interesting. I found the automobile blue book on the Internet Archive, see Volume 1