Published in 1944 by the U.S. Geological Survey, “Baltimore East” presents the city and its eastern approaches at the detailed scale of 1:31,680, preserving a precise wartime-era portrait of Maryland’s great harbor metropolis. The map belongs to the USGS topographic tradition, combining scientific measurement with a refined graphic language of contour lines, blue waterways, road networks, rail corridors, and carefully differentiated land patterns. Its date is especially evocative: Baltimore stood on the threshold of postwar transformation, before the later expansion of suburbs, highways, and airport infrastructure reshaped the region. Here, the city appears as a layered landscape of dense urban fabric, tidal rivers, industrial waterfronts, military sites, and still-open country beyond the settled neighborhoods.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s mapping style gives this sheet both authority and visual richness. Elevation is rendered through closely observed contour lines, allowing the eye to follow the subtle rise and fall of terrain around Baltimore, from built-up districts to the rolling ground of Fullerton, Overlea, and Perry Hall. Water is crisply shown in blue, emphasizing the ponds, streams, tidal inlets, and broad estuarine forms that define the region’s geography. Roads and railroads thread through the map with mid-century precision, revealing the infrastructure that connected residential neighborhoods, harbor industries, and surrounding towns. The result is not merely a city plan, but a topographical portrait in which human settlement and natural form are inseparably entwined.

Baltimore Harbor is one of the map’s great focal points, its channels, waterfronts, and adjoining industrial districts illustrating why the city became one of America’s essential Atlantic ports. The Patapsco River forms the great natural axis of the sheet, widening toward the harbor and shaping the placement of rail lines, roads, docks, and defenses. Back River and the waters around North Point give the eastern side of the map a strongly maritime character, where tidal geography meets settlement and strategic history. Fort McHenry, forever associated with the War of 1812 and the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” anchors the inner harbor, while Fort Carroll stands offshore as a reminder of nineteenth-century coastal defense.

The map also captures Baltimore as a city in transition. Residential neighborhoods press outward from the older urban core, while places such as Fullerton, Overlea, and Perry Hall retain the spatial character of communities not yet fully absorbed into later suburban development. Parks and recreational areas punctuate the grid and soften the industrial and residential density, while roadways and railroads show the practical framework of daily life and commerce. The area’s later association with major regional transportation, including the corridors serving what would become Baltimore-Washington International Airport, makes this 1944 view particularly compelling. It records a landscape before the most dramatic waves of automobile-centered growth altered the metropolitan pattern.

As a historical document, “Baltimore East” offers a remarkably legible view of mid-twentieth-century geography at a moment of national urgency and local change. Military sites, harbor facilities, rail connections, and waterfront approaches reflect Baltimore’s strategic importance during the World War II era, while the carefully plotted contours reveal the physical setting beneath the city’s economic life. The interplay of Patapsco River, Back River, North Point, Fort McHenry, Fort Carroll, and the expanding neighborhoods to the northeast gives the map exceptional narrative depth. It is a disciplined government survey, yet it reads like a chapter in Baltimore’s urban biography: a city of water, industry, memory, and movement, captured just before the modern metropolis took fuller shape.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Baltimore
• Patapsco River
• Fullerton
• Overlea
• Perry Hall
• North Point
• Back River
• Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI)
• Fort McHenry
• Fort Carroll
• Baltimore Harbor
• Various roadways and railroads
• Water bodies depicted in blue, including ponds and lakes
• Parks and recreational areas
• Residential neighborhoods
• Military sites

Historical context & cartographic details

• Published by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
• Created in 1944
• Historical 1:31,680 topographical map of Baltimore, Maryland, and the surrounding area
• Features contour lines representing elevation changes
• Shows water bodies and infrastructure
• Uses distinct color shading for different elevations and land use
• Highlights the topographic character of Baltimore and its surrounding landscape
• Depicts significant waterways and varied terrain contours
• Reflects Baltimore’s mid-20th-century geography before major later urban and infrastructural changes
• Provides insight into the region’s layout prior to significant modern development

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.