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Old Maps of Chicago – Old Illinois Maps – Illinois Historical Maps

Old Maps of Chicago - Old Illinois Maps - Illinois Historical Maps

Old maps of Chicago, old Illinois maps, Illinois historical maps. Includes collections. Also old atlases, gazetteers. All free online.


Collections of Old Illinois Historical Maps

Counties of Illinois: their Origin and Evolution, with Twenty-three Maps Showing the Original and the Present Boundary Lines of each County of the State – Illinois Historical Maps

Hughes, Edward J., comp.
Springfield: State of Illinois 1941

Map of Illinois counties.

Railroad Maps of Illinois – Old Illinois Maps

Illinois Digital Archives
Various publishers and years of publication

39 State-wide maps of Illinois’ rail transportation network, published from the late 19th through the late 20th centuries.

Illinois Historical Maps and Atlases

Historic MapWorks

According to the Historic MapWorks website, the State of Illinois collection contains 3,149 atlases spanning the years 1696-2007. Within the atlases are 191,165 historical maps, illustrations and histories.

Historical Maps Online – Old Maps of Chicago

University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Illinois Press

The intent of the Historical Maps Online project is to electronically publish the images of maps charting the last 400 years of historical development in Illinois and the Northwest Territory.

Old Maps Online – Illinois Historical Maps

This is a collaborative portal for accessing a number of online map collections worldwide. U.S. collections include;
The David Rumsey Collection
Harvard Library Collection
New York Public Library Collection
Leventhal Map Center at Boston Public Library
North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

60 Panoramic maps or Birds-eye views of various Illinois cities and towns – Old Illinois Maps

Library of Congress
Various publishers and years of publication

Many of these are highly detailed pictures showing all buildings. The viewer at this site enables high-resolution zooms.

Federal Township Plats of Illinois (1804-1891)

Illinois State Archives

The Illinois State Archives digitized its 3,457 federal township plats of Illinois. These are hand drawn plats that show Illinois’ landscape as it was before American settlement as well as legal surveying measurements. Occasionally the plats indicate man-made features, both Indian and European. The U.S. Surveyor General and his deputy surveyors drew these maps of “six miles square” townships or fractional townships in preparation for the Federal government’s sale of public lands.


Individual Old Illinois and Old Chicago Maps, and Old Illinois Atlases

Illinois 1817 – Illinois Historical Maps

Rumsey
Baltimore: Lucas Jr. 1817

See the Menu at the top of every page for Directories of Free Online Fiction and NonFiction Books, Magazines, and more, on 400 pages like this at Century Past

Map of Illinois 1822

Rumsey Collection
Philadelphia: Carey 1822

See our Century Past collected links to free online map sites.  We have 5 pages of links: for the U.S., North America, UK & Ireland, Worldwide, & Military maps.

Parts of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana 1833

Rumsey
Great Britain: Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge 1833

The Tourist’s Pocket Map of Illinois, exhibiting its internal improvements, roads, distances &c 1834

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Philadelphia: Mitchell 1834

This also includes a list of steamboat routes, and an inset map of the “Lead Mine Region East of the Mississippi River”.

Map of a Portion of the Indian Country [in the later states of Wisconsin and Illinois] 1835 – Old Illinois Maps

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Gales and Seaton 1835

“A map of a portion of the Indian country lying east and west of the Mississippi River to the forty sixth degree of north latitude from personal observation made in the autumn of 1835 and recent authentic documents.”

See our free books on Illinois economic topics

Map of Illinois 1836 – Illinois Historical Maps

Rumsey
Squire. 1836

Blanchard’s Township Map of Illinois 1869

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chicago: R. Blanchard 1869

“Showing all the rail roads, stations, and towns, being a complete shippers guide to the state with parts of Iowa and Missouri.”

Illinois 1894

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chicago: Cram 1894

Shows railroad lines statewide.

Landforms of Illinois 1956 – Old Illinois Maps

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
James A. Bier 1956

Topographical map of the state, including towns.

See our free Illinois history books & articles

City of Chicago 1853 – Old Maps of Chicago

Harvard University
Cook Co., Illinois. Henry Hart. 1853

Extremely detailed, this appears to show every building.

Chicago 1857 – Old Maps of Chicago

Library of Congress
Chicago: Braunhold & Sonne, 1857

Click “Go” under the image window to make it download. “Birds eye” view not drawn to scale. It portrays the buildings in the city in fine detail, with a key at the bottom identifying important buildings.

Birds eye view of the Chicago packing houses & union stock yards 1890 – Illinois Historical Maps

Collection
Chicago: Charles Rascher 1890

Detailed drawing showing all the buildings and other areas in the Chicago stockyards in 1890. Many of the buildings are identified by their function and the company that operated there.

Bird’s eye view of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 – Old Maps of Chicago

Library of Congress
Rand McNally 1893

A detailed drawing providing an excellent view of all the buildings of the exposition.

A Map of Chicago’s Gangland from Authentic Sources 1931

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chicago: Bruce-Roberts 1931

“Designed to inculcate the most important principles of piety and virtue in young persons, and graphically portray the evils and sin of large cities.”

Metropolitan Chicago and Vicinity 1956 – Old Maps of Chicago

Rumsey Map Collection
Chicago: Shell Oil Company 1956

Originally published as a roadmap for distribution at Shell service stations.

Springfield, Illinois 1867 – Old Illinois Maps

Library of Congress
Chicago Lithographing 1867

“Birds eye” view not drawn to scale. It shows all the buildings in the city and street names, with a key at the bottom identifying important buildings.

See our Illinois historic documents

Indian Land Cessions in Illinois. Illinois Map 1 – Illinois Historical Maps

Indian Land Cessions in Illinois. Illinois Map 2

18th Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology: Schedule of Treaties and Acts of Congress

Smithsonian Institution: Bureau of American Ethnology
GPO 1896-97

The 18th Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology contains, in the latter portion of Volume 2, a “Schedule of Treaties and Acts of Congress Authorizing Allotments of Land in Severalty”. Included in this is a “Schedule of Indian Land Sessions” that provides summary descriptions of each case throughout the U.S. in which a tribe ceded land (whether by sale or not) to the U.S. Federal government. The Schedule is followed by maps of every U.S. state that contained such land cessions. These maps show the locations of land ceded. A number on each land cession corresponds to an entry in the “Schedule of Indian Land Sessions”, which begins on page 648 of the Annual Report.

How to use this: Click the link for Illinois Map 1, which is at images 552-553 of the Report, or Map 2, at 556-557. Note the number of the land cession you wish to read about, and search for that number in the Schedule (3rd link above) that begins on page 648 of the Annual Report. This Schedule is organized as a table that spans 2 pages, so look on odd-numbered pages for the land cession number that corresponds with the map location. The preceding page contains a description for that cession, plus a reference to the legal statute.

Interactive Map of Illinois County Formation History – Old Illinois Maps

Map of US.org

Scroll part-way down this webpage for the interactive online map, which shows the changing county borders over time, from 1790 to 1869. You can also see the county boundaries in each census year from 1810 to 1930. Map of Illinois counties.


Old Illinois Gazetteers

Profiles of Illinois: History, statistics, demographics for 1,436 populated places in Illinois including comparative statistics and rankings

Garoogian, David
Grey House 2011

“This edition provides data on all populated communities and counties in the state of Illinois for which the US Census provides individual statistics. It includes seven major sections that cover everything from Education to Ethnic Backgrounds to Climate. All sections include Comparative Statistics or Rankings, and full-color Maps at the back of the book provide valuable information in a quickly processed, visual format.” – Introduction

Gazetteer of Illinois, in Three Parts

containing a general view of the State, a general view of each county, and a particular description of each town, settlement, stream, prairie, bottom, bluff, etc.; alphabetically arranged

Peck, John Mason
Philadelphia: Grigg & Elliot 1837

Rand, McNally & Co.’s Bird’s-eye Views and Guide to Chicago – Old Maps of Chicago

Indispensable to every visitor. Containing innumerable details of business and residence localities; the most charming drives, the various means of transportation, including routes t the exposition, depots, etc.; together with a complete directory of churches, clubs, hotels, cafes’ theaters, amusements, public buildings, parks, and monuments- a graphic description, in short, of every object of any interest in the city

Rand, McNally
Chicago: Rand, McNally 1893

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