Titled “State College,” this U.S. Geological Survey topographical map was created from 1962 survey work and issued with a 1968 imprint, capturing a pivotal moment in the mid-twentieth-century landscape of central Pennsylvania. At a scale of 1:24,000, it presents State College not simply as a town, but as the geographic heart of a wider terrain of ridges, valleys, streams, roads, and institutional growth. Penn State University appears as a defining presence, its campus woven into the urban pattern of streets and surrounding neighborhoods. The map preserves the area before later decades of expansion transformed the region, making it a finely detailed record of how town, university, farmland, woodland, and watercourses coexisted in the early 1960s.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s signature precision is evident throughout the map, especially in its disciplined use of contour lines to describe the hilly country around State College. These closely spaced brown lines give the landscape a sculptural quality, revealing slopes, ridgelines, low valleys, and subtle changes in elevation that would be invisible on a purely political map. Color is used with quiet efficiency: wooded areas, developed zones, roads, and hydrographic features are clearly differentiated, allowing the viewer to read both the natural and human-made environment at once. The result is a cartographic document that is practical, elegant, and deeply informative, characteristic of the USGS’s mid-century mapping standards.

State College is shown amid the distinctive topography of Centre County, where the Appalachian ridge-and-valley landscape shapes settlement and movement. Nearby Ferguson and the surrounding roads and trails suggest a community connected by local routes rather than dominated by modern highways. Streams and drainage lines thread through the terrain, including Scott Run and Spring Creek, which help define the valleys and lowlands around the town. The map’s waterways are more than incidental details; they reveal why roads bend, why development clusters where it does, and how the physical geography influenced patterns of agriculture, habitation, and travel. In this sense, the map reads like a quiet biography of place.

Penn State University gives the map particular historical interest. By 1962, the institution had already become a major force in the identity and economy of State College, yet the surrounding landscape still retained a marked rural and wooded character. The contrast between campus, town grid, open land, and forested hills is one of the map’s most engaging features. Paths, secondary roads, parks, and undeveloped tracts point to a landscape in transition, poised between collegiate expansion and the older rhythms of central Pennsylvania settlement. For anyone interested in the history of Penn State or the growth of university towns, this map offers a richly layered view of that transformation.

Beyond the town itself, the map evokes the broader natural setting of central Pennsylvania, including wooded areas, parks, reservoirs, and the reaches associated with Bald Eagle State Forest. Its topographical language highlights the region’s folded terrain, where valleys carry streams and roads while uplands remain wooded or sparsely settled. The combination of contour, color, and place names makes the map both a scientific survey and a historical portrait. It documents not only where State College stood in the 1960s, but also how the surrounding land rose, drained, sheltered, and constrained it. As a record of mid-century Pennsylvania, it is at once exacting, atmospheric, and quietly evocative.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• State College
• Ferguson
• Penn State University
• Various unnamed trails and roads
• Scott Run
• Spring Creek
• Bald Eagle State Forest
• Various parks and wooded areas
• Contour lines indicating hills and valleys
• Streams and rivers in the vicinity
• Reservoirs and water bodies surrounding the area

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey as a historical 1:24,000 topographical map.
• Dated 1962 and published with a 1968 imprint.
• Created by the US Geological Survey, known for detailed and precise geological and topographical mapping across the United States.
• Uses a clear topographical style with contour lines to show elevation changes.
• Employs color coding to distinguish land use, vegetation, and other landscape features.
• Illustrates the hilly terrain around the area, including nearby valleys and waterways.
• Reflects the mid-20th-century landscape before later urban development and environmental change.

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.