{"product_id":"old-map-of-memphis-tennessee-1939-by-usgs-mississippi-river-wolf-river-millington","title":"Old Map of Memphis, Tennessee, 1939 by USGS – Mississippi River, Wolf River \u0026 Millington","description":"\u003cp\u003ePublished in 1944 from survey work completed in 1939, the US Geological Survey’s “Memphis” quadrangle captures the city at a pivotal moment, poised between river-port heritage and modern metropolitan expansion. Drawn at the authoritative 1:62,500 scale, it presents Memphis not as a simplified city plan but as a fully realized landscape: streets, rail lines, drainage, contours, industrial edges, wooded tracts, and riverine lowlands all carefully interwoven. The Mississippi River dominates the western margin, anchoring the map both geographically and historically, while the urban grid of Downtown and Midtown spreads eastward across the higher ground. This is Memphis before the full force of postwar suburbanization, a city still visibly shaped by railroads, levees, ferries, farms, parks, and the powerful commercial gravity of the river.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe US Geological Survey brought to this map the precision and visual discipline that made its mid-twentieth-century quadrangles indispensable tools for engineers, planners, soldiers, travelers, and scholars. Founded in 1879, the USGS had become the nation’s leading cartographic authority, standardizing the depiction of elevation, hydrography, settlement, and infrastructure across the United States. Here, its characteristic topographic language is especially effective: brown contour lines articulate the subtle rises above the Mississippi floodplain, blue waterways trace the Wolf River and associated lakes and channels, and darker urban patterning distinguishes the built-up fabric of Memphis. The result is at once technical and elegant, a map whose quiet clarity reveals how landform, transportation, and settlement governed the growth of one of the South’s most important cities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Mississippi River is the map’s great protagonist, shown with islands, bends, bars, and low-lying margins that speak to a constantly shifting alluvial world. Island No. 1 and President’s Island appear as distinctive features within this broad river corridor, reminders that Memphis owed its prosperity to both the opportunities and hazards of its waterfront position. The city’s bluff-top location, long prized for offering safer elevation above floodwaters, becomes legible through the contouring east of the river. Nearby channels, lakes such as Lower Hatchie Lake, and the course of the Wolf River add further texture, showing a landscape of backwaters, wetlands, and fertile bottomlands. In this setting, Memphis emerges not merely as an urban center, but as a strategic river city negotiating commerce, flood control, and geography.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeyond the dense city core, the map records a surrounding world of small communities, farms, rail corridors, parks, and developing suburban edges. Frayser appears to the north, while Millington and the approaches toward northern Shelby County suggest the broader regional network feeding into Memphis. Overton Park is clearly part of the city’s civic landscape, a green counterpoint to the surrounding streets and neighborhoods, while the areas associated today with Shelby Farms Park and T.O. Fuller State Park point to larger patterns of open land, recreation, and institutional use on the metropolitan fringe. Roads and railroads cross the sheet with purpose, revealing Memphis as a transportation hub whose influence extended far beyond its city limits. This is a portrait of movement: freight, people, timber, cotton, and industry converging on the river.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a historical document, the map is especially compelling because it preserves Memphis just before wartime and postwar transformations reshaped its physical form. The 1939 survey predates much of the interstate highway era, large-scale suburban expansion, and later redevelopment along the riverfront, making the mapped street patterns, rail yards, industrial districts, and rural margins particularly evocative. It shows a city already substantial, yet still bounded by open land and natural drainage systems that would later be altered, built over, or reimagined. For collectors, historians, and admirers of Southern urban geography, the map offers a richly layered view of Memphis in transition: a blues city, a cotton city, a river city, and an emerging modern metropolis, rendered with the disciplined beauty of classic USGS cartography.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eCities, towns and places on this map\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMemphis, Tennessee\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMississippi River\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIsland No. 1\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWolf River\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePresident's Island\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrayser\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMillington\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShelby Farms Park\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eT.O. Fuller State Park\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOverton Park\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLower Hatchie Lake\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMidtown, Memphis\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDowntown, Memphis\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRoads and highways as depicted on the map\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRailroads as depicted on the map\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOther local landmarks or points of interest shown on the map\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHistorical context \u0026amp; cartographic details\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProduced by the US Geological Survey (USGS)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHistorical 1:62,500 topographical map of Memphis, Tennessee and the surrounding area\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBased on survey data from 1939, with a 1944 imprint\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe USGS is known for authoritative topographical mapping and helped modernize U.S. mapping techniques in the mid-20th century\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eUses color to represent elevation, land use, and other topographic features\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eContour lines show elevation changes and the region’s terrain near the Mississippi River\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClearly demarcates urban areas, streets, developments, waterways, and natural features\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDocuments Memphis before later major changes in infrastructure, population growth, urban development, and land use\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=\"\/de\/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=\"\/de\/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=\"\/de\/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=\"\/de\/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":58849345765760,"sku":null,"price":83.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58849345798528,"sku":null,"price":222.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"12x16in (30x40cm) \/ Framed canvas map","offer_id":58849345831296,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Map","offer_id":58849345864064,"sku":null,"price":83.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed map","offer_id":58849345896832,"sku":null,"price":222.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"A3 (297x420mm) \/ Framed canvas 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