Published in 1907 by the U.S. Geological Survey, “Des Moines” presents the Iowa capital and its surrounding countryside at a revealing moment in the city’s early twentieth-century growth. Drawn at the detailed 1:62,500 scale, the map belongs to the USGS’s great national project of systematic topographic mapping, begun after the agency’s establishment in 1879. Its measured contour lines, clean hydrography, and restrained palette of land and water give the landscape a disciplined scientific clarity. Des Moines appears not merely as a city, but as the organizing center of a wider regional network: roads, railroads, creeks, townships, and river valleys all converging on a capital whose urban footprint was still compact enough to be read against the surrounding agricultural terrain.

The Des Moines River is the central natural feature, bending through the sheet and shaping both settlement and relief. Around it, the contours tighten and loosen to show the subtle hills, terraces, and valleys that define the region’s topography. Tributaries such as Fourmile Creek and Lusher Creek thread across the land, their courses explaining the placement of roads, farms, and early communities. The future site of Saylorville Lake—created decades later by damming the Des Moines River—can be understood here in its earlier form, as river corridor and lowland rather than reservoir. This gives the map special historical resonance, preserving the pre-impoundment geography of northern Polk County before one of the area’s most significant modern landscape transformations.

Des Moines itself is shown during a period of rapid civic and industrial development, when the city was consolidating its role as Iowa’s political, commercial, and transportation hub. Railroads, an essential feature of the map, trace the economic arteries that connected the capital to nearby towns and distant markets. Places such as Ankeny, Bondurant, Norwalk, Polk City, Delaware, Jefferson, Pleasant Hill, Urbandale, and the area later known as West Des Moines appear within a still-rural matrix of townships, roads, and drainage lines. The map captures a metropolitan region before its later suburban expansion, when many now-familiar communities remained discrete settlements separated by fields, creeks, and open country.

The USGS topographic style gives this map both aesthetic restraint and technical authority. Rather than decorative flourish, its beauty lies in precision: contour intervals reveal rises and hollows, blue waterways articulate the drainage network, and carefully lettered place names establish a hierarchy of towns, natural features, roads, and rail lines. The beige ground and blue water create a quiet, elegant composition in which the viewer can follow the terrain almost physically, from upland ridges down into stream valleys and along the Des Moines River corridor. This style reflects the ambitions of early federal cartography—maps intended for engineering, land management, navigation, education, and public knowledge, yet possessing a spare visual grace that remains compelling today.

As a historical document, the map offers a rare view of central Iowa before the automobile age fully remade settlement patterns and before suburban growth absorbed the countryside surrounding Des Moines. Franklin Township and other township divisions speak to the administrative geography of a largely agricultural landscape, while named roads, railroads, and trails hint at the movement of people, goods, and ideas through the region. The contrast with the modern city is striking: areas now defined by residential neighborhoods, highways, commercial corridors, and reservoirs appear here as a more open terrain ordered by rivers, rails, and rural routes. In that sense, “Des Moines” is both a practical survey and an evocative portrait of a capital city on the cusp of transformation.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Des Moines
• West Des Moines
• Ankeny
• Urbandale
• Norwalk
• Pleasant Hill
• Titar
• Bondurant
• The Des Moines River
• Lusher Creek
• Fourmile Creek
• Saylorville Lake
• Jefferson
• Delaware
• Polk City
• Franklin Township
• Several named roads, railroads, and trails

Historical context & cartographic details

• Published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
• Produced as a historical 1:62,500 topographical map of Des Moines, Iowa and the surrounding area.
• Dated 1907.
• The U.S. Geological Survey was established in 1879 and became instrumental in producing detailed topographical maps across the United States.
• Uses a traditional topographic style with contour lines showing elevation changes.
• Features a simple color palette of beige for land and blue for water.
• Shows hills, valleys, and elevation changes, especially around the Des Moines River.
• Reflects the urban development of Des Moines during the early 20th century.
• Illustrates changes in land use, infrastructure, and urban expansion over time.

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.