Rare Old Map of Ames, Iowa by USGS, 1914: Story City & Colfax
Restored in our London workshop from the original map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored in London • Printed and framed in the UK
My maps are rare, museum-grade, restored old maps sourced from libraries, auction houses and private collections across the globe. Full description
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Published in 1914 from survey work of the same year, the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Ames” presents central Iowa with the disciplined clarity...
Continue readingPublished in 1914 from survey work of the same year, the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Ames” presents central Iowa with the disciplined clarity of early twentieth-century scientific cartography. Produced under the directorship of George Otis Smith, it belongs to the USGS’s great national project of measuring, classifying, and rendering the American landscape in standardized topographic form. At a scale of 1:62,500, the map captures Ames and its surrounding country not as a mere town plan, but as part of a wider regional system of roads, railways, waterways, farms, and settlements. Its title is admirably spare—“Ames”—yet the sheet opens onto a richly detailed portrait of Story County and neighboring communities at a moment before modern suburban expansion transformed the terrain.
Ames itself forms the natural center of the map, shown within a landscape whose contours, transportation routes, and neighboring settlements reveal the town’s early importance as a regional hub. By 1914, Ames was already closely associated with education, agriculture, and rail connectivity, and the map reflects the broader geography that supported that growth. Nearby places including Story City, Colfax, Elsworth, Milford, Howard, Franklin, Scott, and Grants appear within the mapped world, along with the road and rail corridors that knitted them together. The result is a quietly revealing document of movement and connection: a view of central Iowa in which towns are not isolated points, but nodes in a working rural network shaped by distance, topography, and infrastructure.
The visual language of the map is quintessentially USGS: precise, restrained, and deeply informative. Distinctly colored contour lines articulate elevation changes across the countryside, allowing the viewer to read the shape of the land almost three-dimensionally. Muted tones distinguish terrain, water, roads, and settlement without overwhelming the eye, giving the sheet the measured elegance associated with early federal topographical mapping. Around Ames, the contours disclose a landscape more varied than Iowa’s reputation for flatness might suggest, with gentle hills, drainage patterns, and subtle rises shaping the placement of roads and communities. This technical artistry is part of the map’s appeal: beauty emerges from accuracy, and the landscape is rendered through a vocabulary of line, color, and scientific observation.
The waterways, lakes, and drainage features marked on the map are especially important to its historical character, since they reveal how settlement and transportation followed the natural logic of the terrain. Roads curve with the land, rail lines seek efficient gradients, and towns occupy positions that made sense within the early twentieth-century agricultural economy. The map’s depiction of rail infrastructure is particularly evocative, recalling a period when small Iowa towns were bound to wider markets through track and depot as much as by road. In contrast to later highway-centered development, this 1914 view preserves an older geography of movement—one in which local roads, railroads, creeks, and township boundaries together structured everyday life.
As a historical document, “Ames” is compelling because it captures a region poised between rural continuity and modern change. The geography shown here predates much of the urban growth, infrastructure expansion, and landscape alteration that would reshape Ames and its surroundings over the following century. Yet the essential framework of the region is already visible: the town at its center, the educational and agricultural character of the area, the surrounding communities, and the transportation lines that connected central Iowa to the nation beyond. Under George Otis Smith’s USGS, such maps were made for practical use, but today they offer something more atmospheric: a finely observed record of place, revealing how Ames and its neighboring landscapes looked when the twentieth century was still young.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Ames
- Story City
- Colfax
- Elsworth
- Clear Lake
- Milford
- Howard
- Franklin
- Scott
- Grants
- Michigan State University nearby
- Various roads and rail lines depicted in the area
- Nearby lakes and rivers marked
Historical context & cartographic details
- Published by the U.S. Geological Survey, with George Otis Smith as Director
- Created in 1914 using survey data from the same year
- Historical topographical map at a scale of 1:62,500
- Shows Ames, Iowa and the surrounding area as it was understood in the early 20th century
- Features distinctly colored contour lines to indicate elevation and terrain
- Uses a muted color palette typical of historic USGS topographical maps
- Displays detailed elevation contours and geographic features, revealing the terrain around Ames and nearby communities
- Offers a historical view of an area that has likely seen significant later development, especially in urban areas and infrastructure
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.
Published in 1914 from survey work of the same year, the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Ames” presents central Iowa with the disciplined clarity of early twentieth-century scientific cartography. Produced under the directorship of George Otis Smith, it belongs to the USGS’s great national project of measuring, classifying, and rendering the American landscape in standardized topographic form. At a scale of 1:62,500, the map captures Ames and its surrounding country not as a mere town plan, but as part of a wider regional system of roads, railways, waterways, farms, and settlements. Its title is admirably spare—“Ames”—yet the sheet opens onto a richly detailed portrait of Story County and neighboring communities at a moment before modern suburban expansion transformed the terrain.
Ames itself forms the natural center of the map, shown within a landscape whose contours, transportation routes, and neighboring settlements reveal the town’s early importance as a regional hub. By 1914, Ames was already closely associated with education, agriculture, and rail connectivity, and the map reflects the broader geography that supported that growth. Nearby places including Story City, Colfax, Elsworth, Milford, Howard, Franklin, Scott, and Grants appear within the mapped world, along with the road and rail corridors that knitted them together. The result is a quietly revealing document of movement and connection: a view of central Iowa in which towns are not isolated points, but nodes in a working rural network shaped by distance, topography, and infrastructure.
The visual language of the map is quintessentially USGS: precise, restrained, and deeply informative. Distinctly colored contour lines articulate elevation changes across the countryside, allowing the viewer to read the shape of the land almost three-dimensionally. Muted tones distinguish terrain, water, roads, and settlement without overwhelming the eye, giving the sheet the measured elegance associated with early federal topographical mapping. Around Ames, the contours disclose a landscape more varied than Iowa’s reputation for flatness might suggest, with gentle hills, drainage patterns, and subtle rises shaping the placement of roads and communities. This technical artistry is part of the map’s appeal: beauty emerges from accuracy, and the landscape is rendered through a vocabulary of line, color, and scientific observation.
The waterways, lakes, and drainage features marked on the map are especially important to its historical character, since they reveal how settlement and transportation followed the natural logic of the terrain. Roads curve with the land, rail lines seek efficient gradients, and towns occupy positions that made sense within the early twentieth-century agricultural economy. The map’s depiction of rail infrastructure is particularly evocative, recalling a period when small Iowa towns were bound to wider markets through track and depot as much as by road. In contrast to later highway-centered development, this 1914 view preserves an older geography of movement—one in which local roads, railroads, creeks, and township boundaries together structured everyday life.
As a historical document, “Ames” is compelling because it captures a region poised between rural continuity and modern change. The geography shown here predates much of the urban growth, infrastructure expansion, and landscape alteration that would reshape Ames and its surroundings over the following century. Yet the essential framework of the region is already visible: the town at its center, the educational and agricultural character of the area, the surrounding communities, and the transportation lines that connected central Iowa to the nation beyond. Under George Otis Smith’s USGS, such maps were made for practical use, but today they offer something more atmospheric: a finely observed record of place, revealing how Ames and its neighboring landscapes looked when the twentieth century was still young.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Ames
- Story City
- Colfax
- Elsworth
- Clear Lake
- Milford
- Howard
- Franklin
- Scott
- Grants
- Michigan State University nearby
- Various roads and rail lines depicted in the area
- Nearby lakes and rivers marked
Historical context & cartographic details
- Published by the U.S. Geological Survey, with George Otis Smith as Director
- Created in 1914 using survey data from the same year
- Historical topographical map at a scale of 1:62,500
- Shows Ames, Iowa and the surrounding area as it was understood in the early 20th century
- Features distinctly colored contour lines to indicate elevation and terrain
- Uses a muted color palette typical of historic USGS topographical maps
- Displays detailed elevation contours and geographic features, revealing the terrain around Ames and nearby communities
- Offers a historical view of an area that has likely seen significant later development, especially in urban areas and infrastructure
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.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
Every Unique Maps piece begins with an authentic cartographic source or an original design from our London studio.
For our historic maps, we source rare originals from libraries, archives, auction houses and private collections around the world. We carefully restore each map for print—repairing age-related damage, balancing colour and improving clarity while preserving its original detail, texture and character.
Once restored, the map is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our map prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks, creating a rich, non-glossy finish designed to last. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Canvas, cotton-rag and other specialist presentations are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
Personalising your map
You can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. For personalised designs, we send a proof before printing and you can request changes before approval.
For more complex bespoke commissions, contact our design team.
Original or Aged
Choose Original for true-to-source colour, or Aged for a warmer, richer antique character created with our specialist ageing process. See examples of our Aged maps.
We’ve been restoring and producing maps and art prints since 1984, and we stand behind every piece.
Every order is covered by our 10-year guarantee and damage-free delivery guarantee. If your piece arrives damaged, we’ll replace or remake it free of charge. If anything else isn’t right, contact our workshop team and we’ll put it right promptly.
See our returns and refund policy for full details.
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