Titled “Hummelstown” and dated 1947, this U.S. Geological Survey topographical map presents Hershey, Hummelstown, and the surrounding Pennsylvania countryside at the precise and highly readable scale of 1:24,000. It captures a mid-century landscape poised between rural tradition and modern growth: towns linked by highways, local roads, and rail lines, with fields, wooded slopes, stream valleys, and early recreational spaces carefully delineated. Hershey appears not merely as a place-name, but as the center of a distinctive industrial and cultural landscape shaped by chocolate manufacturing, tourism, and planned community development. The map’s restrained USGS design—contours, color-coded vegetation, waterways, and transportation networks—creates a richly layered portrait of Dauphin County in the years just after the Second World War.

The map was created by the United States Geological Survey, an institution central to the scientific mapping of the American landscape since the late nineteenth century. USGS topographic maps were designed to serve engineers, planners, geologists, hydrologists, surveyors, and travelers, combining practical clarity with a remarkably elegant visual language. Here, contour lines articulate every rise and hollow, allowing the viewer to read the terrain almost three-dimensionally. Green areas denote woodland and vegetative cover, blue traces watercourses, and road and rail networks reveal the human framework laid across the land. In this “Hummelstown” sheet, the USGS method transforms a familiar Pennsylvania region into a measured, analytical, and visually compelling record of landform, settlement, and movement.

Hershey, prominently shown on the map, gives the sheet particular historical charm. By 1947 the town was already nationally associated with Milton S. Hershey’s chocolate enterprise, whose factory, company town, school, and public amenities had reshaped what had once been a largely agricultural area. Hersheypark, originally developed as a leisure ground for company employees, had become a regional attraction, helping turn the town into a destination as well as an industrial center. The map records this evolving identity in its roads, rail connections, clustered development, and nearby recreational zones. It shows Hershey at a moment when its reputation was firmly established, yet before later suburban expansion and tourism infrastructure greatly enlarged the built landscape.

Beyond the celebrated name of Hershey, the map is anchored by Hummelstown and the natural corridor of Swatara Creek, whose valley influenced travel, settlement, and industry in the region. The creek’s course, nearby hills, wooded tracts, and gentle valleys are rendered through the disciplined language of contour and color, revealing how topography shaped roads, rail alignments, and town placement. The surrounding landscape is not flat or anonymous; it is a textured Pennsylvania terrain of stream bottoms, ridgelines, cultivated land, and forested slopes. Highways and local roads weave through this terrain, while rail tracks underscore the continuing importance of freight and passenger movement in the mid-twentieth century economy of central Pennsylvania.

As a historical document, “Hummelstown” preserves the Hershey region before the full force of postwar suburbanization altered its pattern of settlement. The 1947 date places the map at a revealing threshold: automobiles were reshaping mobility, tourism was growing, and industrial communities were adapting to a new American era, yet much of the countryside still retained its open, rural character. For collectors, historians, and admirers of Pennsylvania geography, the map offers more than location; it offers context. Its contours and place-names reveal the relationship between land and enterprise, between creek valleys and transportation corridors, and between a small town’s chocolate empire and the physical landscape that supported its rise.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
• Hershey, Pennsylvania
• Swatara Creek
• Various roadways, including highways and local roads
• Rail tracks
• Nearby hills and valleys
• Forested areas
• Parks and recreational zones
• Nearby landmarks or features related to the Hershey Chocolate Company

Historical context & cartographic details

• Historical 1:24,000 topographical map showing Hershey, Pennsylvania and the surrounding area
• Dated and published in 1947
• Created by the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS
• USGS is known for its geological and hydrological studies, and for mapping natural resources and topography across the United States
• Hershey is noted for its chocolate factory and theme park
• The town’s development and local economy were shaped by the Hershey Chocolate Company
• Uses a standard USGS topographic style with distinctive contour lines to show elevation change
• Clear colored delineation highlights landforms, waterways, roads, and vegetative cover
• Green areas indicate forested or vegetated terrain
• Captures the Hershey and Hummelstown area before later urban and suburban development transformed the region

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 18x24in (45x60cm) 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.