Rare Old Map of Baton Rouge, Louisiana by USGS, 1939: Mississippi River & East Baton Rouge Parish
Restored in our London workshop from the original 1947 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored from the original 1947 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Gift message & custom finish
If you want to add a gift message, or a finish (jigsaw, aluminium board, etc.) that is not available here, please request it in the "order note" when you check out.
Every order is custom made, so if you need the size adjusted slightly, or printed on an unusual material, just let us know. We've done thousands of custom orders over the years, so there's (almost) nothing we can't manage.
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Published in 1947 from 1939 mapping, the US Geological Survey’s “Baton Rouge” presents the Louisiana capital and its surrounding parishes at the...
Continue readingPublished in 1947 from 1939 mapping, the US Geological Survey’s “Baton Rouge” presents the Louisiana capital and its surrounding parishes at the revealing 1:62,500 scale. The map captures Baton Rouge at a pivotal moment, just before the transformations of World War II accelerated industrial expansion, road building, and suburban growth across the Lower Mississippi Valley. At its center lies the broad, sinuous Mississippi River, the defining geographic and economic force of the region, with levees, lowlands, transport corridors, and settlement patterns arranged around its course. The city appears as both a historic river town and an emerging modern capital, set within a landscape where urban blocks, rural tracts, waterways, and engineered flood defenses meet.
The US Geological Survey brought to this sheet the disciplined clarity for which its topographical maps are renowned. Founded in the nineteenth century to study the nation’s lands and resources, the USGS developed a cartographic language that made terrain legible to scientists, engineers, planners, and the public alike. Here, contour lines, symbols, road classifications, railways, water features, and land-use indications are arranged with quiet precision. The result is not merely a map of location, but a measured portrait of the ground itself. Elevation changes, drainage patterns, and the relationship between built and natural environments are all made visible, allowing the viewer to understand Baton Rouge as a physical landscape as well as a civic place.
The Mississippi River dominates the composition, curving past Baton Rouge with the grandeur and authority of one of North America’s great waterways. Its presence explains much of what surrounds it: levees tracing the river’s edge, transportation routes seeking crossings and access points, and settlement concentrated where commerce and defensible ground allowed. The map’s topographical detail gives particular attention to the subtle relief of the river plain, where even modest changes in elevation could shape agriculture, habitation, and flood risk. Water bodies, drainage channels, and low-lying areas speak to the complex hydrology of southern Louisiana, while the river’s engineered banks hint at the long human effort to control, navigate, and profit from this powerful natural artery.
Baton Rouge itself is shown in a period of transition, with urban features clearly distinguished from the surrounding rural and semi-rural landscape. Roads and highways extend outward from the city, tying neighborhoods, industrial areas, and outlying settlements into a wider regional network. Railways mark the continued importance of freight movement and river-linked commerce, while the pattern of streets and transport corridors reveals the city’s growing role as capital, port, and industrial center. East Baton Rouge Parish and nearby Ascension Parish frame the map’s broader geography, showing the connections between civic expansion, agricultural lands, riverine infrastructure, and the wooded or open spaces beyond the urban core.
As a historical document, this map offers a compelling snapshot of Baton Rouge before postwar development remade much of the region. The late 1930s were years of infrastructure improvement, industrial ambition, and demographic change, and the sheet preserves the city’s footprint before later highways, subdivisions, and expanded industrial zones altered the landscape. Its traditional topographical style gives it a restrained elegance: practical, exacting, and deeply informative. For those interested in Louisiana history, river cities, or the cartographic work of the USGS, “Baton Rouge” is rich with context—revealing not only where roads, rails, levees, and neighborhoods once stood, but how geography shaped the destiny of a capital on the Mississippi.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Baton Rouge
- Mississippi River
- Ascension Parish
- East Baton Rouge Parish
- Mississippi River levees
- Various neighborhoods in Baton Rouge
- Nearby forests and parks
- Roads and highways
- Railways
- Water bodies and lakes
- Elevation contours and topographical features
Historical context & cartographic details
- Historical 1:62,500 topographical map produced by the US Geological Survey
- Dated 1939 with a 1947 imprint
- Published by the US Geological Survey, known for detailed topographical mapping used in natural resource management, scientific research, and terrain analysis
- Shows Baton Rouge and its surrounding area in Louisiana during a period of late-1930s growth and change leading up to World War II
- Features a traditional topographical layout with contour lines representing elevation
- Includes shaded relief for visual depth
- Contains a detailed legend indicating physical features
- Illustrates varied terrain, including elevated areas, urban and rural land use, and the winding course of the Mississippi River
- Provides a historical snapshot of industrial and residential development before later postwar 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.
Published in 1947 from 1939 mapping, the US Geological Survey’s “Baton Rouge” presents the Louisiana capital and its surrounding parishes at the revealing 1:62,500 scale. The map captures Baton Rouge at a pivotal moment, just before the transformations of World War II accelerated industrial expansion, road building, and suburban growth across the Lower Mississippi Valley. At its center lies the broad, sinuous Mississippi River, the defining geographic and economic force of the region, with levees, lowlands, transport corridors, and settlement patterns arranged around its course. The city appears as both a historic river town and an emerging modern capital, set within a landscape where urban blocks, rural tracts, waterways, and engineered flood defenses meet.
The US Geological Survey brought to this sheet the disciplined clarity for which its topographical maps are renowned. Founded in the nineteenth century to study the nation’s lands and resources, the USGS developed a cartographic language that made terrain legible to scientists, engineers, planners, and the public alike. Here, contour lines, symbols, road classifications, railways, water features, and land-use indications are arranged with quiet precision. The result is not merely a map of location, but a measured portrait of the ground itself. Elevation changes, drainage patterns, and the relationship between built and natural environments are all made visible, allowing the viewer to understand Baton Rouge as a physical landscape as well as a civic place.
The Mississippi River dominates the composition, curving past Baton Rouge with the grandeur and authority of one of North America’s great waterways. Its presence explains much of what surrounds it: levees tracing the river’s edge, transportation routes seeking crossings and access points, and settlement concentrated where commerce and defensible ground allowed. The map’s topographical detail gives particular attention to the subtle relief of the river plain, where even modest changes in elevation could shape agriculture, habitation, and flood risk. Water bodies, drainage channels, and low-lying areas speak to the complex hydrology of southern Louisiana, while the river’s engineered banks hint at the long human effort to control, navigate, and profit from this powerful natural artery.
Baton Rouge itself is shown in a period of transition, with urban features clearly distinguished from the surrounding rural and semi-rural landscape. Roads and highways extend outward from the city, tying neighborhoods, industrial areas, and outlying settlements into a wider regional network. Railways mark the continued importance of freight movement and river-linked commerce, while the pattern of streets and transport corridors reveals the city’s growing role as capital, port, and industrial center. East Baton Rouge Parish and nearby Ascension Parish frame the map’s broader geography, showing the connections between civic expansion, agricultural lands, riverine infrastructure, and the wooded or open spaces beyond the urban core.
As a historical document, this map offers a compelling snapshot of Baton Rouge before postwar development remade much of the region. The late 1930s were years of infrastructure improvement, industrial ambition, and demographic change, and the sheet preserves the city’s footprint before later highways, subdivisions, and expanded industrial zones altered the landscape. Its traditional topographical style gives it a restrained elegance: practical, exacting, and deeply informative. For those interested in Louisiana history, river cities, or the cartographic work of the USGS, “Baton Rouge” is rich with context—revealing not only where roads, rails, levees, and neighborhoods once stood, but how geography shaped the destiny of a capital on the Mississippi.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Baton Rouge
- Mississippi River
- Ascension Parish
- East Baton Rouge Parish
- Mississippi River levees
- Various neighborhoods in Baton Rouge
- Nearby forests and parks
- Roads and highways
- Railways
- Water bodies and lakes
- Elevation contours and topographical features
Historical context & cartographic details
- Historical 1:62,500 topographical map produced by the US Geological Survey
- Dated 1939 with a 1947 imprint
- Published by the US Geological Survey, known for detailed topographical mapping used in natural resource management, scientific research, and terrain analysis
- Shows Baton Rouge and its surrounding area in Louisiana during a period of late-1930s growth and change leading up to World War II
- Features a traditional topographical layout with contour lines representing elevation
- Includes shaded relief for visual depth
- Contains a detailed legend indicating physical features
- Illustrates varied terrain, including elevated areas, urban and rural land use, and the winding course of the Mississippi River
- Provides a historical snapshot of industrial and residential development before later postwar 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.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
Every Unique Maps piece begins with an authentic cartographic source or an original design from our London studio.
For our historic maps, we source rare originals from libraries, archives, auction houses and private collections around the world. We carefully restore each map for print—repairing age-related damage, balancing colour and improving clarity while preserving its original detail, texture and character.
Once restored, the map is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our map prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks, creating a rich, non-glossy finish designed to last. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Canvas, cotton-rag and other specialist presentations are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
Personalising your map
You can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. For personalised designs, we send a proof before printing and you can request changes before approval.
For more complex bespoke commissions, contact our design team.
Original or Aged
Choose Original for true-to-source colour, or Aged for a warmer, richer antique character created with our specialist ageing process. See examples of our Aged maps.
We’ve been restoring and producing maps and art prints since 1984, and we stand behind every piece.
Every order is covered by our 10-year guarantee and damage-free delivery guarantee. If your piece arrives damaged, we’ll replace or remake it free of charge. If anything else isn’t right, contact our workshop team and we’ll put it right promptly.
See our returns and refund policy for full details.
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