Published in 1925 by the United States Geological Survey, “Georgetown 4-b” presents Georgetown, Texas, and the surrounding Williamson County countryside at a scale of 1:48,000, using survey data compiled by S. E. Clement. The map belongs to the disciplined, highly legible tradition of early twentieth-century USGS topography, where settlement, transportation, watercourses, and relief are brought together in a single analytical landscape. Its “advance” designation suggests a working or preliminary issue, emphasizing practical utility as much as finished elegance. Particularly striking is the use of fine contouring, with 10-foot intervals indicated in dashed lines, allowing the rolling elevations around Georgetown to emerge with quiet precision. The result is both a technical document and a remarkably evocative portrait of Central Texas in the years before modern suburban expansion.

At the heart of the map is Georgetown, the Williamson County seat, anchored by civic and religious landmarks such as the Williamson County Courthouse and St. Mary’s Church. These named features give the sheet an intimate historical texture, showing not merely terrain but the institutions around which daily life was organized. Schools, stores, sidings, and mills appear as essential points in the rural network: Blocker School, Roldan Siding, Dodd’s Store, and Turner’s Mill all speak to a landscape of dispersed communities tied together by roads, rail, and river crossings. The surrounding names—Stony Point, Cedar Park, Branch April, and other local places—capture a region still largely agricultural, where small settlements and family landmarks mattered as much as formal municipal boundaries.

The hydrology of the sheet is especially compelling. The North Fork and South Fork of the San Gabriel River structure the country around Georgetown, joined by smaller waterways including Pecan Branch, Smiths Branch, Peach Creek, and Brushy Creek. These creeks and forks are not decorative details; they explain the form of the land, the placement of roads, and the logic of settlement. The contours reveal a subtly undulating terrain, part of the transition between the Texas Hill Country and the more open agricultural lands to the east. The area now associated with Lake Georgetown appears here before that later transformation, making the river valley particularly valuable to read in its earlier condition. Drainage, slope, and settlement are rendered as one interconnected system.

The map also reflects the broader ambitions of the US Geological Survey during a period when accurate topographic mapping was central to land management, engineering, agriculture, and transportation planning. Under the compilation of S. E. Clement, the Georgetown sheet records not only natural relief but the built fabric of the 1920s countryside. Rail features such as Roldan Siding hint at commercial movement and rural connectivity, while mills, churches, schools, and stores reveal a social geography rooted in local service points. The “advance” character of the sheet gives it an additional fascination: it evokes the active process of surveying and publishing, when federal cartography was continually refining its methods to produce more exact and useful representations of American places.

As a historical document, “Georgetown 4-b” captures Williamson County at a pivotal moment, before the accelerating growth of Austin’s northern corridor and before places like Cedar Park became part of a far larger metropolitan landscape. The map preserves an older pattern of Central Texas life: courthouse town, farm roads, creek bottoms, schoolhouses, church sites, rail sidings, and named branches crossing gently folded ground. Nearly a century of development has altered roads, reservoirs, neighborhoods, and institutional footprints, but this sheet holds the earlier geography in crisp detail. Its restrained USGS styling rewards close study, allowing modern viewers to trace vanished routes, altered waterways, and communities that once existed at a smaller, more local scale.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Georgetown, Texas
• Stony Point
• Branch April
• Lake Georgetown
• South Fork San Gabriel River
• North Fork San Gabriel River
• Pecan Branch
• Blocker School
• Roldan Siding
• Williamson County
• Smiths Branch
• St. Mary's Church
• Peach Creek
• Cedar Park
• Brushy Creek
• Turner’s Mill
• Dodd's Store
• Williamson County Courthouse
• San Gabriel Campus

Historical context & cartographic details

• Published by the US Geological Survey (USGS)
• Created in 1925
• Historical 1:48,000 topographical map of Georgetown, Texas, and the surrounding region
• Survey data compiled by S. E. Clement
• Marked as an “advance” map, possibly indicating preliminary cartographic or survey work
• Shows contour lines to indicate elevation changes
• Uses 10-foot contour intervals shown with dashed lines
• Depicts rolling hills and undulating terrain
• Illustrates elevation and drainage features characteristic of USGS topographical maps from this period
• Serves as a historical snapshot of Georgetown and its surroundings in the early 20th century
• Documents the area before later changes in urban development, infrastructure, and landscape over nearly a century

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.