“Tús­caloosa Quadrangle” presents a finely detailed US Geological Survey portrait of west-central Alabama, created from 1971 survey data and published with a 1973 imprint. At the authoritative 1:24,000 scale, it captures Tuscaloosa and its immediate surroundings at a moment before later decades of growth transformed the city’s edges. The map’s title preserves the disciplined language of American federal cartography, while its content reveals a richly layered civic and natural landscape: streets, highways, rail corridors, rivers, wooded tracts, institutional grounds, and the subtle rise and fall of the terrain. Pink urban shading marks the developed heart of Tuscaloosa, while green areas indicate forested or open land, giving the sheet both practical clarity and historical atmosphere.

The map was produced by the United States Geological Survey, the federal agency whose quadrangle maps became indispensable tools for engineers, planners, geologists, hikers, and historians. Founded in 1879, the USGS brought scientific rigor to the mapping of the nation, combining field survey, aerial interpretation, hydrography, and elevation measurement into a standardized visual language. This Tuscaloosa sheet belongs to that great tradition: precise, restrained, and deeply informative. Its contour lines do more than record height; they describe the structure of the land itself, tracing slopes, ridges, valleys, and drainage patterns. In a region where the city meets river terraces, wooded ground, and expanding suburban corridors, those contours offer an elegant reading of the landscape beneath the built environment.

Tuscaloosa dominates the map, its street grid and neighborhoods arranged around one of Alabama’s most historically important urban centers. The city is especially notable as the home of the University of Alabama, whose campus appears as a major landmark within the mapped area. By the early 1970s, Tuscaloosa was already a significant educational, commercial, and cultural center, yet the map still records a city in a more compact phase of development. Residential and commercial districts are differentiated from surrounding open land, allowing the viewer to see where the urban fabric had thickened and where fields, woods, and less-developed tracts still framed the city. Nearby Northport appears across the river, emphasizing the twin-city geography of the area.

The Warrior River is one of the map’s defining natural features, shaping both settlement and movement through the Tuscaloosa area. Rivers in USGS topographic mapping are never merely decorative: they anchor drainage systems, transportation corridors, industrial sites, floodplains, and local identity. Here, the Warrior’s course helps explain the siting of Tuscaloosa and Northport, as well as the alignment of roads and the distribution of low-lying terrain. Smaller water features, including Friday Lake, add to the hydrological texture of the sheet. Around them, contour intervals reveal gentle gradients and more pronounced changes in elevation, creating a visual narrative of uplands, valleys, and river-influenced landforms. The result is a map that reads simultaneously as geography, infrastructure, and environmental history.

As a historical snapshot, this 1971/1973 Tuscaloosa quadrangle is particularly compelling. It records highways, local roads, wooded areas, open land, neighborhoods, and institutional spaces before subsequent waves of urban expansion altered the metropolitan footprint. The color system is classic mid-century USGS: pink for built-up areas, green for vegetation, blue for water, brown for contours, and black for cultural detail such as roads and structures. This disciplined palette makes the map both beautiful and legible, balancing scientific precision with quiet graphic sophistication. For collectors drawn to Alabama history, university towns, river landscapes, or the cartographic language of the US Geological Survey, it offers a richly informative view of Tuscaloosa at a distinct moment in its modern development.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Tuscaloosa
• Northport
• University of Alabama
• Warrior River
• Friday Lake
• Various highways and roads
• Contours representing elevation changes
• Green areas indicating forests or parks
• Residential and commercial areas as indicated by shading

Historical context & cartographic details

• Name of the map: Tuscaloosa Quadrangle
• Date and imprint: Created using 1971 survey data and published with a 1973 imprint.
• Mapmaker / publisher: Produced by the US Geological Survey, known for detailed topographic mapping and geological studies across the United States.
• Scale and type: A historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and the surrounding area.
• Design details: Uses standard USGS topographic styling, including contour lines to show elevation changes.
• Colour coding: Pink indicates urban areas, while green represents wooded or open land.
• Topographic character: Shows detailed landscape features such as elevation changes, valleys, rivers, lakes and varied terrain.
• Historical significance: Serves as a snapshot of Tuscaloosa in the early 1970s, before later urban expansion and infrastructure changes.

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.