Rare Old Map of Greenwich Village, New York by USGS, 1955: Jersey City, Hoboken & Hudson River
Restored in our London workshop from the original 1964 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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.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 in London • Printed and framed in Australia
Restored from the original 1964 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.
You can also contact us before you order, if you prefer!
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Titled “Jersey City,” this U.S. Geological Survey topographical map was published in 1964 using survey data from 1955, preserving a richly detailed...
Continue readingTitled “Jersey City,” this U.S. Geological Survey topographical map was published in 1964 using survey data from 1955, preserving a richly detailed portrait of the lower Hudson waterfront at mid-century. At 1:24,000 scale, it brings together Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, Weehawken, and portions of Manhattan, including Greenwich Village, within a single carefully measured urban landscape. The map’s red urban tinting, blue waterways, and precise street and shoreline delineation are characteristic of USGS cartography of the period, balancing scientific clarity with understated visual elegance. It captures a metropolitan threshold: rail yards, piers, canals, dense street grids, and tidal waters all arranged around the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, and New York Bay.
The U.S. Geological Survey, founded in 1879, became one of the world’s most influential mapping agencies through its systematic depiction of the American landscape. Its topographic quadrangles were created for practical use—engineering, planning, resource management, military reference, and public administration—but today they also serve as remarkable historical records. In “Jersey City,” the USGS method is especially compelling because the subject is not wilderness or mountain country, but one of the most intensely built environments in the United States. Buildings, docks, transportation corridors, water margins, and municipal boundaries appear with disciplined precision, revealing how topography in an urban setting is shaped as much by infrastructure and industry as by natural landforms.
Jersey City dominates the map as a complex industrial and residential city facing Manhattan across the Hudson River. Its streets and waterfront works speak to its long role as a gateway for freight, commuters, and immigrants moving between New Jersey and New York. Nearby Hoboken and Weehawken appear along the river’s edge, historically tied to ferries, rail terminals, shipping, and elevated views of Manhattan. To the south, Bayonne and the waters of New York Bay evoke the maritime economy that sustained the region for generations. Kearny Point and the surrounding lowlands hint at the broader estuarine geography of the Hackensack and Passaic river systems, where marsh, industry, and transportation converged.
Across the river, the inclusion of Greenwich Village adds a powerful cultural dimension to the map’s otherwise technical language. By the mid-1950s, the Village was already legendary as a center of bohemian life, modern art, literature, jazz, political dissent, and unconventional urban community. Its irregular street pattern contrasts with Manhattan’s more rigid grid, preserving traces of older settlement beneath the modern metropolis. On this map, Greenwich Village is not romanticized; it is rendered in the same precise cartographic vocabulary as docks, avenues, canals, and rail lines. Yet that neutrality makes it especially evocative, placing one of America’s great cultural neighborhoods within the working geography of the harbor city.
As a historical document, “Jersey City” captures a landscape on the cusp of dramatic transformation. Much of the waterfront shown here would later be reshaped by containerization, deindustrialization, redevelopment, park creation, and new commuter infrastructure. The area now associated with Liberty State Park, for example, was still deeply marked by rail and maritime industry in the period reflected by the survey. The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, now emblematic of public access and urban renewal, belongs to a later vision of the same shoreline. This map therefore offers more than orientation: it reveals the mid-20th-century city before reinvention, when harbors, canals, piers, and dense neighborhoods still defined the everyday geography of New York Harbor.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Jersey City
- Greenwich Village
- Hoboken
- Bayonne
- New York Bay
- Upper New York Bay
- Hudson River
- Gowanus Canal
- Weehawken
- Carteret
- Kearny Point
- Liberty State Park
- Hudson River Waterfront Walkway
- Various streets and roads throughout Jersey City and surrounding areas
Historical context & cartographic details
- Historical 1:24,000 topographical map titled “Jersey City.”
- Derived from survey data from 1955 and published in 1964.
- Produced by the U.S. Geological Survey, known for its topographical mapping and geological surveys.
- Focuses on Jersey City and surrounding areas, including notable locations in New York City.
- Greenwich Village is historically significant as a vibrant cultural hub associated with the arts, bohemian life, and important American cultural movements.
- Uses a color scheme typical of USGS maps from this period, with red indicating populated areas and blue signifying water bodies.
- Shows detailed urban development, including buildings, streets, and bodies of water.
- Captures both topographical and hydrological features of the area.
- Serves as a mid-20th-century historical snapshot of urban development, infrastructure, and land use.
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.
Titled “Jersey City,” this U.S. Geological Survey topographical map was published in 1964 using survey data from 1955, preserving a richly detailed portrait of the lower Hudson waterfront at mid-century. At 1:24,000 scale, it brings together Jersey City, Hoboken, Bayonne, Weehawken, and portions of Manhattan, including Greenwich Village, within a single carefully measured urban landscape. The map’s red urban tinting, blue waterways, and precise street and shoreline delineation are characteristic of USGS cartography of the period, balancing scientific clarity with understated visual elegance. It captures a metropolitan threshold: rail yards, piers, canals, dense street grids, and tidal waters all arranged around the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, and New York Bay.
The U.S. Geological Survey, founded in 1879, became one of the world’s most influential mapping agencies through its systematic depiction of the American landscape. Its topographic quadrangles were created for practical use—engineering, planning, resource management, military reference, and public administration—but today they also serve as remarkable historical records. In “Jersey City,” the USGS method is especially compelling because the subject is not wilderness or mountain country, but one of the most intensely built environments in the United States. Buildings, docks, transportation corridors, water margins, and municipal boundaries appear with disciplined precision, revealing how topography in an urban setting is shaped as much by infrastructure and industry as by natural landforms.
Jersey City dominates the map as a complex industrial and residential city facing Manhattan across the Hudson River. Its streets and waterfront works speak to its long role as a gateway for freight, commuters, and immigrants moving between New Jersey and New York. Nearby Hoboken and Weehawken appear along the river’s edge, historically tied to ferries, rail terminals, shipping, and elevated views of Manhattan. To the south, Bayonne and the waters of New York Bay evoke the maritime economy that sustained the region for generations. Kearny Point and the surrounding lowlands hint at the broader estuarine geography of the Hackensack and Passaic river systems, where marsh, industry, and transportation converged.
Across the river, the inclusion of Greenwich Village adds a powerful cultural dimension to the map’s otherwise technical language. By the mid-1950s, the Village was already legendary as a center of bohemian life, modern art, literature, jazz, political dissent, and unconventional urban community. Its irregular street pattern contrasts with Manhattan’s more rigid grid, preserving traces of older settlement beneath the modern metropolis. On this map, Greenwich Village is not romanticized; it is rendered in the same precise cartographic vocabulary as docks, avenues, canals, and rail lines. Yet that neutrality makes it especially evocative, placing one of America’s great cultural neighborhoods within the working geography of the harbor city.
As a historical document, “Jersey City” captures a landscape on the cusp of dramatic transformation. Much of the waterfront shown here would later be reshaped by containerization, deindustrialization, redevelopment, park creation, and new commuter infrastructure. The area now associated with Liberty State Park, for example, was still deeply marked by rail and maritime industry in the period reflected by the survey. The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, now emblematic of public access and urban renewal, belongs to a later vision of the same shoreline. This map therefore offers more than orientation: it reveals the mid-20th-century city before reinvention, when harbors, canals, piers, and dense neighborhoods still defined the everyday geography of New York Harbor.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Jersey City
- Greenwich Village
- Hoboken
- Bayonne
- New York Bay
- Upper New York Bay
- Hudson River
- Gowanus Canal
- Weehawken
- Carteret
- Kearny Point
- Liberty State Park
- Hudson River Waterfront Walkway
- Various streets and roads throughout Jersey City and surrounding areas
Historical context & cartographic details
- Historical 1:24,000 topographical map titled “Jersey City.”
- Derived from survey data from 1955 and published in 1964.
- Produced by the U.S. Geological Survey, known for its topographical mapping and geological surveys.
- Focuses on Jersey City and surrounding areas, including notable locations in New York City.
- Greenwich Village is historically significant as a vibrant cultural hub associated with the arts, bohemian life, and important American cultural movements.
- Uses a color scheme typical of USGS maps from this period, with red indicating populated areas and blue signifying water bodies.
- Shows detailed urban development, including buildings, streets, and bodies of water.
- Captures both topographical and hydrological features of the area.
- Serves as a mid-20th-century historical snapshot of urban development, infrastructure, and land use.
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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