Published in 1939 by the United States Geological Survey, “Worcester North” presents the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, and its northern environs at a finely detailed 1:31,680 scale. The map captures an industrial New England city at a pivotal moment, just before the transformations of World War II and the postwar highway age reshaped its neighborhoods and approaches. Worcester appears as a dense urban center threaded by named streets, rail lines, reservoirs, parks, and surrounding uplands, while the cartographic language of the USGS—precise contours, colored natural features, and carefully differentiated built environments—gives the scene both scientific authority and period elegance. It is a portrait of a working city embedded in a landscape of hills, lakes, river corridors, and engineered water systems.

The US Geological Survey, founded in 1879, brought a new level of consistency and technical rigor to American mapping, and this sheet reflects that institutional ambition. Its topographic style is practical yet beautiful: contour lines model the rise and fall of the land, water bodies are crisply delineated, and the urban fabric is rendered with a clarity that reveals Worcester’s compact, energetic form. Roads such as Pleasant Street, Grafton Street, Lincoln Street, Park Avenue, Chandler Street, Shrewsbury Street, and Highland Street help anchor the map in the everyday life of the city, while railway lines point to the larger commercial networks that sustained Worcester’s factories, warehouses, and neighborhoods in the early twentieth century.

Worcester’s physical setting is especially compelling here, with the city shown not as an isolated grid but as a place shaped by water, elevation, and access. Lake Quinsigamond stretches along the eastern side of the urban area, a long glacial lake historically associated with recreation, rowing, and the boundary between Worcester and Shrewsbury. Indian Lake appears to the north, while the Worcester Reservoirs testify to the engineered infrastructure required by a growing city. The Blackstone River, one of the great industrial waterways of New England, and the Assabet River system connect the sheet to broader regional histories of mills, manufacturing, transport, and settlement across central Massachusetts.

The terrain around Worcester is rendered with the understated drama characteristic of USGS topographic mapping. Contours reveal the city’s hills, ridges, and valleys, including features such as Newton Hill and the broader uplands that give Worcester its distinctive topography. Green Hill Park, one of the city’s major green spaces, stands out as part of a landscape in which urban development and natural relief remain closely interwoven. The map’s detail allows the viewer to read the relationship between landform and city form: streets bending around rises, reservoirs occupying natural basins, rail corridors finding practical grades, and neighborhoods spreading across the elevated ground of central Massachusetts.

As a historical document, “Worcester North” preserves Worcester at a moment of industrial maturity, before many later layers of suburban expansion, institutional growth, and modern transportation infrastructure altered the surrounding landscape. The area associated today with Worcester State University appears within a city still defined by streetcar-era neighborhoods, rail connections, civic parks, reservoirs, and manufacturing corridors. The map invites comparison between past and present: water bodies remain familiar landmarks, but land use, road networks, and the intensity of development have changed substantially since 1939. For collectors drawn to New England history, urban geography, or the disciplined beauty of American topographic surveying, this map offers a richly textured view of Worcester’s landscape and identity.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Worcester
• Lake Quinsigamond
• Worcester Reservoirs
• Blackstone River
• Assabet River
• Pleasant Street
• Grafton Street
• Lincoln Street
• Park Avenue
• Chandler Street
• Shrewsbury Street
• Highland Street
• Worcester State University
• Green Hill Park
• Indian Lake
• Newton Hill
• Unnamed water bodies
• Major roadways and railway lines in the Worcester urban area

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey, this historical topographical map shows Worcester, Massachusetts, and the surrounding area.
• Dated 1939.
• Published by the US Geological Survey, an agency established in 1879 and known for providing geological and topographical mapping of the United States.
• Drawn at a scale of 1:31,680, offering a detailed representation of local terrain and infrastructure.
• Features detailed contour lines showing elevation changes, hills, valleys, and surrounding landforms.
• Uses color to distinguish natural and built features, including forests, water bodies, and urban areas.
• Documents Worcester’s landscape and infrastructure during a period of significant industrial growth.
• Provides a historical snapshot of the area before later urban development, land-use changes, and alterations to natural features.

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.