Titled “Richmond,” this 1939 United States Geological Survey map presents Virginia’s capital at a particularly evocative scale of 1:31,680, balancing urban detail with the broader topography of the James River basin. Published by the USGS, the sheet belongs to the great federal project of systematically measuring and depicting the American landscape, an undertaking that transformed geography into a precise civic and scientific instrument. Here, Richmond appears on the eve of the Second World War, already a mature city yet still visibly shaped by older roads, river crossings, rail corridors, and county edges. The map captures a moment when nineteenth-century Richmond, Civil War memory, early automobile infrastructure, and modern urban planning all overlapped in a richly legible landscape.

The map’s topographic language gives Richmond a physical drama often lost in ordinary city plans. Fine contour lines trace the rolling ground above the James River, revealing how hills, valleys, and terraces influenced the city’s streets, neighborhoods, and industrial corridors. The James itself is the commanding natural feature, bending through the city and anchoring both commerce and scenery. Its riverbanks, islands, floodplain edges, and adjacent lowlands help explain Richmond’s historic siting as a fall-line city, where navigation, waterpower, and inland roads converged. Color differentiates urban fabric, vegetation, open land, and transportation routes, allowing the viewer to read not only where Richmond was built, but why its growth followed particular ridges, avenues, and river approaches.

Richmond’s historical identity is especially resonant on this sheet. As the former capital of the Confederate States during the American Civil War, the city carried immense symbolic weight long after 1865, and the map quietly situates many places bound up with that memory. Hollywood Cemetery, overlooking the James, appears within a landscape of slopes and winding approaches, emphasizing its commanding position above the city. The Virginia State Capitol area, Broad Street, Main Street, City Hall, and the downtown core mark the political and commercial heart of Richmond. Nearby Monroe Park and the surrounding district point toward the city’s educational and civic evolution, including areas that would later become associated with Virginia Commonwealth University.

Beyond the central city, the map extends into the surrounding geography of Henrico and Chesterfield Counties, showing Richmond not as an isolated urban island but as the hub of a wider regional system. Roads radiate outward across county lines, linking neighborhoods, rural edges, industrial zones, and river crossings. The Fan District, Maymont, and other recognizable areas sit within a carefully measured terrain, their street patterns contrasting with the looser fabric of outlying land. The map’s depiction of parks, cemeteries, public buildings, and transportation corridors gives a nuanced impression of land use in 1939: a city dense at its core, expanding at its margins, and still deeply conditioned by the contours of the James River landscape.

Created by the United States Geological Survey, an agency founded in 1879 to study the nation’s lands, resources, and natural hazards, this map reflects the precision and authority that made USGS quadrangles indispensable to engineers, planners, historians, and travelers. Its beauty lies in the disciplined clarity of scientific cartography: contour intervals, symbols, color washes, and standardized lettering combine to make Richmond both measurable and memorable. As a historical document, it records the city just before wartime mobilization and postwar suburban expansion accelerated profound change. As a portrait of place, it reveals Richmond’s layered character: capital city, river city, industrial center, seat of memory, and landscape of ridges, streets, parks, and enduring civic landmarks.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Richmond, Virginia
• James River
• Monroe Park
• Hollywood Cemetery
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• Broad Street
• Main Street
• Riverfront Canal Walk
• Mechanic's Hall
• City Hall
• East River Front Park
• Virginia State Capitol
• Maymont
• The Fan District
• Chesterfield County
• Henrico County

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the United States Geological Survey, this historical topographical map shows Richmond, Virginia, and the surrounding area.
• Created in 1939 at a scale of 1:31,680.
• The USGS was established in 1879 as a scientific agency of the U.S. government, providing data about natural resources and natural hazards.
• Richmond has historical significance as the capital of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.
• The map uses a topographic style, with contour lines indicating elevation and variations in the landscape.
• Color is used to distinguish land use, vegetation, and urban areas.
• Elevation changes, hills, and valleys are shown through contour lines and shaded relief.
• The map captures Richmond during a period of growth and development prior to World War II.
• It reflects historical changes in urban planning, 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.