{"product_id":"old-map-of-houston-texas-by-usgs-1922-harris-county-buffalo-bayou-houston-harbor","title":"Old Map of Houston, Texas by USGS, 1922 – Harris County, Buffalo Bayou \u0026 Houston Harbor","description":"\u003cp\u003eTitled “Settegast” and dated 1922, this US Geological Survey topographical map presents Houston, Texas, and its surrounding Harris County landscape at a revealing moment in the city’s expansion. Drawn at a 1:31,680 scale, it captures both the urban form of Houston and the transitional country beyond it: neighborhoods, roads, rail lines, bayous, fields, wooded tracts, and industrial areas. The title refers to Settegast, a community northeast of central Houston, here situated within a wider geography shaped by transportation corridors and waterways. As a record of Houston before its later metropolitan sprawl, the map offers a finely grained view of the city when its streets, harbor facilities, and outlying agricultural lands still stood in close proximity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe US Geological Survey’s topographic style gives the map its authority and quiet elegance. Founded in 1879, the USGS became the American standard-bearer for systematic mapping, producing maps used by engineers, planners, conservationists, landowners, and government agencies. Here, the agency’s characteristic use of contour lines and color differentiation translates the low Gulf Coast terrain into legible form. Houston is not a mountainous city, yet the subtle elevation changes shown across the sheet are crucial, especially in a landscape governed by bayous, drainage, flooding, and gradual slopes. The result is both technical and evocative: a measured portrait of place in which streets and railways are balanced against the natural logic of land and water.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHouston itself appears as a growing urban center knit together by major routes such as Main Street and Harrisburg Boulevard, along with a dense network of local roads and railways. The map reflects a city deeply tied to movement—of people, agricultural goods, industrial materials, and maritime commerce. Rail lines radiate through and around the city, revealing the infrastructure that helped Houston consolidate its regional importance in the early twentieth century. Houston Harbor is a particularly important feature, pointing to the city’s transformation into a major inland port after the development of the Houston Ship Channel. The map shows an urban landscape still open-ended, with development pressing outward from the core into neighboring settlements and working lands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bayous give the map much of its character. Buffalo Bayou, long central to Houston’s history, winds through the mapped landscape as both natural drainage and commercial artery, while Brays Bayou marks another vital thread in the region’s hydrology. These waterways shaped settlement patterns, transportation routes, industrial siting, and the persistent challenge of managing water in a flat coastal plain. Around them, the map distinguishes agricultural fields, forested areas, open spaces, and scattered industrial sites, showing a mosaic of land uses that would later be dramatically altered. The careful topographic treatment makes clear that even modest variations in elevation mattered in this environment, where the relationship between urban growth and flood-prone terrain was already consequential.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a historical document, the “Settegast” map offers a compelling snapshot of Houston in 1922, before the explosive suburbanization, freeway construction, and petrochemical expansion that would redefine the region. It records a city at the intersection of older rural patterns and modern metropolitan ambition: railways and harbor works alongside fields, bayous, woods, and emerging neighborhoods. Harris County’s later transformation makes the details especially resonant, since many of the open spaces and agricultural lands shown here have since been absorbed into the urban fabric. For collectors of Texas history, urban development, or American topographic mapping, this map captures Houston at a formative stage, poised between bayou town, railroad hub, and global energy metropolis.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eCities, towns and places on this map\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHouston\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarris County\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSettegast neighborhood\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHouston Harbor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBrays Bayou\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBuffalo Bayou\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarrisburg Boulevard\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMain Street\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVarious streets and roads\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVarious railways\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAgricultural fields\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eForested areas\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndustrial sites\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eParks and open spaces\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistorical context \u0026amp; cartographic details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical 1:31,680 topographical map showing Houston, Texas, and the surrounding area in 1922\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProduced by the US Geological Survey (USGS)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe USGS is known for detailed topographic maps used in planning, engineering, conservation, and related applications\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProminently features Houston as a significant urban center in Texas, along with surrounding landscapes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUses color shading and contour lines to represent elevation and terrain features\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShows elevation changes and landforms in and around Houston through detailed contouring\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProvides insight into Houston’s land use and urban development in 1922, before major later changes in the region\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLooking for a particular place?\u003c\/strong\u003e Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/it\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eask our workshop to check before you order\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDetailed 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please \u003ca href=\"\/it\/pages\/contact-us\"\u003eget in touch\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/it\/pages\/map-personalisation\"\u003eSee personalised map examples\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEvery 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith 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 \u003ca target=\"”_blank”\" href=\"\/it\/collections\/all-old-vintage-antique-maps\"\u003erare old and vintage maps\u003c\/a\u003e to discover another place, period or style.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Unique Maps Co.","offers":[{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Map","offer_id":58849355432320,"sku":null,"price":363.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58849355465088,"sku":null,"price":975.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":58849355497856,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Map","offer_id":58849355530624,"sku":null,"price":363.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58849355563392,"sku":null,"price":975.0,"currency_code":"CNY","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed canvas 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