The Great Lakes and Vicinity showing the Navigation Routes, connecting Railroads and Principal Ports, issued in 1917 by Rand McNally & Company, captures the inland maritime world at the height of North American industrial ascent. Spanning Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, the sheet assembles the United States and Ontario into a single, navigable theater, where waterborne corridors and steel rails dovetail from Chicago to Buffalo and from Detroit to Toronto and Hamilton. It reads as both atlas and itinerary, naming principal ports, tracing harbors and river mouths, and fixing the region in a lattice of latitude and longitude. The title’s promise is fulfilled in the drawing: routes clarified, connections enumerated, borders acknowledged—an authoritative portrait of the Great Lakes as the continent’s working seaway.

Rand McNally’s early twentieth-century aesthetic informs every choice: crisp color coding differentiates navigation lanes from connecting railroads, while intricate line work articulates coastlines, riverine inlets, and the scalloped margins of bays. Symbols denote principal ports and junctions, and the web of rail lines mirrors the maritime network, tightening around urban hubs and branching along the lakeshores. Boundary lines between states and provinces are carefully threaded through the geography, and the latitude–longitude grid frames the composition with navigational precision. Decorative yet disciplined, the design balances ornament with legibility, embodying the period’s conviction that beauty and utility could coexist on the printed page—and that commerce, too, could be elegantly mapped.

The historical moment is unmistakable. In 1917, the Great Lakes were a freight engine for two nations—conveying raw materials and finished goods between mills, factories, and port cities whose names anchor the map: Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay; Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland; Erie, Buffalo, Rochester; Toronto and Hamilton. Railroads stitch Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Grand Rapids, and inland centers to the waterfront, advertising the interdependency of ship and rail. These corridors sustained wartime and peacetime economies alike, knitting a cross-border marketplace long before the language of supply chains. The sheet’s emphasis on routes and junctions makes visible a continental choreography—ore and grain outbound, coal and manufactured goods inbound—circulating through a freshwater highway that rivals an ocean in ambition.

Two inset maps supply the crucial micro-geographies that move macro-economies. Around Detroit and the St. Clair River, the sheet magnifies the narrow straits that carry vessels between Lakes Huron and Erie—past Detroit and Windsor, through Port Huron and Sarnia—where currents, docks, and junctions concentrate traffic and turn time into money. The Welland Canal inset, in turn, highlights the engineered bypass around Niagara Falls, the critical hinge coupling Lakes Erie and Ontario. By isolating these choke points and connectors, Rand McNally underlines how locks, channels, and river reaches determine the cadence of the whole system, and how rail spurs knit back to the lakefront, ensuring that every berth is a gateway to the hinterland.

Behind this synthesis stands Rand McNally & Company, a pillar of American cartography since the mid-nineteenth century, whose atlases and commercial maps helped standardize how a modern nation pictured distance, time, and connection. Their work braided fresh data with practiced draughtsmanship, serving the needs of shippers, railroaders, and civic planners who demanded clarity at speed. This map exemplifies the firm’s talent for integrating modes—steamship routes and railroads, ports and provincial borders—into a single, comprehensible diagram of movement. It is a study in reliable information made elegant, and a reminder that the Great Lakes are less an edge than a center: a freshwater empire whose bearings, boundaries, and busy corridors defined North American enterprise.

Cities and towns on this map

• Detroit, MI (modern population: ~670,000)
• Grand Rapids, MI (modern population: ~200,000)
• Flint, MI (modern population: ~95,000)
• Saginaw, MI (modern population: ~48,000)
• Kalamazoo, MI (modern population: ~76,000)
• Milwaukee, WI (modern population: ~590,000)
• Green Bay, WI (modern population: ~105,000)
• Chicago, IL (modern population: ~2,695,000)
• Rockford, IL (modern population: ~150,000)
• Indianapolis, IN (modern population: ~890,000)
• Toledo, OH (modern population: ~270,000)
• Cleveland, OH (modern population: ~380,000)
• Erie, PA (modern population: ~93,000)
• Pittsburgh, PA (modern population: ~300,000)
• Buffalo, NY (modern population: ~275,000)
• Rochester, NY (modern population: ~205,000)
• Toronto, ON (modern population: ~2,800,000)
• Hamilton, ON (modern population: ~540,000)

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Great Lakes: Huron, Michigan, Erie, Superior, and Ontario
• Major navigation routes marked by lines and symbols
• Railroads connecting cities and ports
• Principal ports identified along the Great Lakes
• Inset maps for Detroit and St. Clair River, and the Welland Canal
• Topographical features such as rivers and coastlines
• Boundary lines between states and provinces
• Latitude and longitude markings for navigation

Historical and design context

• Date of creation: 1917
• Mapmaker/Publisher: Rand McNally & Company; a major American cartographic firm active since the mid-19th century, influential in transportation mapping
• Focus: navigation routes, connecting railroads, and principal ports across the Great Lakes region
• Geographic coverage: U.S. states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and the Canadian province of Ontario
• Design/Style: color coding and intricate line work to delineate water routes, railroads, and major features; ornate early 20th-century cartographic aesthetics
• Historical significance: documents the Great Lakes as critical trade routes and transportation hubs during a period of intense industrial growth in the U.S. and Canada
• Extra notes: inset maps highlight the Detroit–St. Clair River area and the Welland Canal, emphasizing key transportation corridors

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

Please note: the labels on this map are hard to read if you order a map that is 16in (40cm) or smaller. The map is still very attractive, but if you would like to read the map easily, please buy a larger size.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.

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.

For most orders, delivery time is about 3 working days. Personalised and customised products take longer, as I have to do the personalisation and send it to you for approval, which usually takes 1 or 2 days.

Please note that very large framed orders usually take longer to make and deliver. 

If you need your order to arrive by a certain date, please contact me before you order so that we can find the best way of making sure you get your order in time.

I print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world. This means your order will be made locally, which cuts down on delivery time and ensures that it won't be damaged during delivery. You'll never pay customs or import duty, and we'll put less CO2 into the air.

All of my maps and art prints are well packaged and sent in a rugged tube if unframed, or surrounded by foam if framed.

I try to send out all orders within 1 or 2 days of receiving your order, though some products (like face masks, mugs and tote bags) can take longer to make.

If you select Express Delivery at checkout your order we will prioritise your order and send it out by 1-day courier (Fedex, DHL, UPS, Parcelforce).

Next Day delivery is also available in some countries (US, UK, Singapore, UAE) but please try to order early in the day so that we can get it sent out on time.

Read my full delivery and local production guide

My standard frame is a gallery style black ash hardwood frame. It is simple and quite modern looking. My standard frame is around 20mm (0.8in) wide.

I use super-clear acrylic (perspex/acrylite) for the frame glass. It's lighter and safer than glass - and it looks better, as the reflectivity is lower.

Six standard frame colours are available for free (black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white and antique gold). Custom framing and mounting/matting is available if you're looking for something else.

Most maps, art and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte (not shiny) cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced box wood frame, and then 'float' the piece within a wood frame. The end result is quite beautiful, and there's no glazing to get in the way.

All frames are provided "ready to hang", with either a string or brackets on the back. Very large frames will have heavy duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

See some examples of my framed maps and framed canvas maps.

Alternatively, I can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag and other materials.

If you want to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read my size guide first.

My maps are extremely high quality reproductions of original maps.

I source original, rare maps from libraries, auction houses and private collections around the world, restore them at my London workshop, and then use specialist giclée inks and printers to create beautiful maps that look even better than the original.

My maps are printed on acid-free archival matte (not glossy) paper that feels very high quality and almost like card. In technical terms the paper weight/thickness is 10mil/200gsm. It's perfect for framing.

I print with Epson ultrachrome giclée UV fade resistant pigment inks - some of the best inks you can find.

I can also make maps on canvas, cotton rag and other exotic materials.

Learn more about The Unique Maps Co.

Map personalisation

If you're looking for the perfect anniversary or housewarming gift, I can personalise your map to make it truly unique. For example, I can add a short message, or highlight an important location, or add your family's coat of arms.

The options are almost infinite. Please see my map personalisation page for some wonderful examples of what's possible.

To order a personalised map, select "personalise your map" before adding it to your basket.

Get in touch if you're looking for more complex customisations and personalisations.

Map ageing

I have been asked hundreds of times over the years by customers if they could buy a map that looks even older.

Well, now you can, by selecting Aged before you add a map to your basket.

All the product photos you see on this page show the map in its Original form. This is what the map looks like today.

If you select Aged, I will age your map by hand, using a special and unique process developed through years of studying old maps, talking to researchers to understand the chemistry of aging paper, and of course... lots of practice!

If you're unsure, stick to the Original colour of the map. If you want something a bit darker and older looking, go for Aged.

See some amazing examples of Aged maps.

If you are not happy with your order for any reason, contact me and I'll get it fixed ASAP, free of charge. Please see my returns and refund policy for more information.

I am very confident you will like your restored map or art print. I have been doing this since 1984. I'm a 5-star Etsy seller. I have sold tens of thousands of maps and art prints and have over 5,000 real 5-star reviews. My work has been featured in interior design magazines, on the BBC, and on the walls of dozens of 5-star hotels.

I use a unique process to restore maps and artwork that is massively time consuming and labour intensive. Hunting down the original maps and illustrations can take months. I use state of the art and eye-wateringly expensive technology to scan and restore them. As a result, I guarantee my maps and art prints are a cut above the rest. I stand by my products and will always make sure you're 100% happy with what you receive.

Almost all of my maps and art prints look amazing at large sizes (200cm, 6.5ft+) and I can frame and deliver them to you as well, via special oversized courier. Contact me to discuss your specific needs.