Published in 1938 by the United States Geological Survey, “Albuquerque” presents the city and its surrounding New Mexico landscape at a 1:62,500 scale, capturing a pivotal moment before the dramatic postwar expansion that would reshape the Rio Grande Valley. The map centers on Albuquerque’s dense urban grid, where streets, rail lines, roads, and trails reveal a city already functioning as a regional crossroads. Yet beyond the ordered blocks, the terrain opens into valleys, mesas, riverlands, and mountain approaches, giving the sheet a compelling balance between settlement and wilderness. Its topographic precision makes visible the relationship between the city and the landforms that have always defined it: the Rio Grande, the Sandia Mountains, and the arid high-country expanses of central New Mexico.

The US Geological Survey brought to this map the sober elegance and technical authority for which its topographic sheets are celebrated. Contour lines articulate the rise and fall of the terrain with scientific clarity, tracing the valley floor, foothills, escarpments, and mountain slopes around Albuquerque. The result is not merely a navigational document but a portrait of place, one in which elevation, drainage, transportation, and settlement are held in careful visual balance. Roads and railroads thread through the composition, connecting Albuquerque with neighboring communities and the wider Southwest. In the hands of the USGS, the region becomes legible as both inhabited territory and dynamic landscape, shaped by geology, water, movement, and human ambition.

The Rio Grande River is the map’s natural spine, flowing through the valley and anchoring the settlements that line its course. Albuquerque, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, and the Town of Isleta appear in relation to this vital waterway, whose presence has sustained communities in the region for centuries. The river corridor also evokes the deep cultural layering of central New Mexico, where Pueblo, Spanish, Mexican, and American histories converge. Isleta, in particular, recalls the enduring presence of Native communities along the Rio Grande, while Albuquerque’s urban form reflects its evolution from an older Spanish colonial settlement into a modern Southwestern city. The map quietly records these histories through geography, settlement patterns, and routes of connection.

To the east, the Sandia Mountains rise dramatically, their changing elevations rendered through tightly drawn contours that contrast with the broader openness of the valley floor. The nearby Town of Carnuel and the approaches toward Cibola National Forest situate Albuquerque within a striking mountain environment, where travel routes negotiate canyons, slopes, and high desert terrain. These features underscore one of the map’s great pleasures: its ability to show the city not as an isolated urban center, but as part of a larger ecological and topographic system. Mesa landscapes, foothill transitions, and surrounding valleys give the sheet a sense of breadth, while the contouring invites the eye to read the land almost three-dimensionally.

As a 1938 view of Albuquerque, this map preserves the city at an especially evocative stage in its development. The street grid and transportation corridors show an established urban core, but the surrounding countryside remains comparatively open, with rural settlements, trails, and undeveloped expanses still prominent. Railroads and roads signal the forces of modernization, while the surrounding mesas and valleys hint at the space that later decades would fill with suburbs, industry, and infrastructure. Today, the map offers a richly detailed historical snapshot of Albuquerque before its late twentieth-century transformation. It is a study in anticipation: a city poised between its older Southwestern landscape and the expansive metropolitan future that lay ahead.

Cities, towns and places on this map

• Albuquerque
• Town of Isleta
• Rio Grande River
• Mesa Del Sol
• Cibola National Forest
• Town of Carnuel
• Sandia Mountains
• Town of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque
• Various railroads
• Various roads and trails
• Valleys surrounding Albuquerque
• Dense urban layout of Albuquerque, including street grids and infrastructure

Historical context & cartographic details

• Produced by the US Geological Survey as a historical 1:62,500 topographical map of Albuquerque, New Mexico and the surrounding area.
• Dated 1938.
• Published by the US Geological Survey, renowned for detailed topographic mapping used in historical and contemporary land use analysis.
• Shows Albuquerque as both an urban center and part of the surrounding rural landscape.
• Highlights Albuquerque’s significance as one of New Mexico’s largest cities and a cultural hub shaped by Native American and Spanish influences.
• Uses contour lines to illustrate elevation changes across the region.
• Depicts the varying terrain around Albuquerque and its setting in the Rio Grande Valley.
• Captures Albuquerque during a period of growth and development, before major urban expansion and demographic shifts in the later 20th century.

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.