Published in 1949 by the United States Geological Survey, “Fort Lauderdale South” is a finely detailed 1:24,000 topographic portrait of one of South Florida’s most rapidly changing coastal districts. The map captures Fort Lauderdale at a pivotal postwar moment, when its identity as a canal-threaded resort city was beginning to merge with the expanding infrastructure of modern suburbia. Streets, rail lines, waterways, and emerging neighborhoods are plotted with the measured precision for which the USGS is renowned, while the low-relief coastal landscape is expressed through subtle contouring and carefully differentiated land uses. It is both a technical document and a historical snapshot, showing a city poised between tropical frontier, transportation hub, and vacation destination.

The sheet centers on Fort Lauderdale and South Fort Lauderdale, with Dania Beach and the wider southern reaches of Broward County appearing as part of an interconnected coastal plain. The New River and Tarpon River wind through the urban fabric, reinforcing the watery character that would earn Fort Lauderdale its reputation as the “Venice of America.” Channels, drainage features, and coastal waterways reveal how deeply settlement patterns were shaped by hydrology. In contrast to later dense development, the map still shows open tracts, parkland, and undeveloped spaces, particularly toward the interior. These areas hint at the proximity of the Everglades and the uneasy balance between engineered urban growth and the region’s subtropical wetlands.

As a USGS topographic map, “Fort Lauderdale South” is designed for clarity, accuracy, and practical use, yet its visual language has an understated elegance. Roads and highways are cleanly distinguished, railroads trace the economic arteries of the region, and water bodies stand out as organizing features of both town and landscape. The color-coded treatment of green areas identifies parks, wooded land, or less developed terrain, making the contrast between built neighborhoods and natural space immediately legible. In a landscape where elevation changes are modest, contour lines become especially revealing: they emphasize the flatness of the coastal environment and the importance of drainage, canals, and engineered routes in shaping inhabitable land.

The presence of Fort Lauderdale Airport, noted here as Dade Airport, adds another layer of historical interest. Aviation facilities were central to South Florida’s wartime and postwar transformation, linking the region more closely to national travel, military logistics, and later mass tourism. Nearby roads, rail lines, and urban blocks suggest the infrastructure that would support the area’s explosive mid-century growth. The map predates much of the later suburban intensification that would spread across Broward County, allowing modern viewers to see the framework before it was fully filled in. Residential districts, transport corridors, and recreational landscapes appear in formative relation, recording the geography of expansion just before metropolitan Fort Lauderdale accelerated dramatically.

Viewed today, this 1949 map is especially compelling for the way it preserves a transitional South Florida. Fort Lauderdale’s beaches and boating canals are present, but the surrounding landscape still retains traces of a more open, semi-rural, and wetland-adjacent character. Dania Beach, Lauderdale Lakes, the coastal strip, and the routes leading inland collectively show a region being reorganized around mobility, leisure, and real estate development. The USGS’s disciplined cartography turns that transformation into a readable historical document: every road alignment, watercourse, park boundary, and rail connection speaks to the postwar reshaping of the American coastline. It is a map of place, but also of momentum—Fort Lauderdale becoming the modern city it is known as today.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Fort Lauderdale
• Dania Beach
• Lauderdale Lakes
• Fort Lauderdale Airport (Dade Airport)
• South Fort Lauderdale
• Everglades
• South Florida
• New River
• Tarpon River
• Parks and recreational areas
• Main roads and highways
• Railroad tracks
• Coastal areas
• Channels and waterways

Historical context & cartographic details

• Published by the US Geological Survey (USGS) in 1949.
• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map of Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding area in Florida.
• Shows Fort Lauderdale during the post-World War II period, reflecting rapid urbanization and changing land use.
• Highlights the transition from metropolitan areas to more rural and natural adjoining landscapes.
• Uses traditional topographic representation, including contour lines and shading to depict elevation.
• Clearly marks infrastructure and natural features, including roads, railways, and water bodies.
• Includes a color-coded legend for interpreting land use, with green areas indicating parkland and undeveloped space.
• Offers insight into areas that have likely changed significantly since 1949, including later residential and commercial expansion.

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.