Maps, Atlases

Rand McNally & Company is the preeminent American publisher of maps, atlases, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. It also provides online consumer street maps and directions, as well as commercial transportation routing software and mileage data. more...

Home
Knives, Swords & Blades
Militaria
Science Fiction
Tobacciana
Trading Cards
Transportation
Automobilia
Aviation
Bicycles
Boats, Ships
Buses, Taxi Cabs
Maps, Atlases
Atlases
Maps
Canada
Europe
Mixed Lots
Other Countries
US
Motorcycles
Other Transportation
Pins, Buttons
Railroadiana, Trains
Scooters
Signs
Subway
Trucks
Videos

The company is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois with additional offices in Irvine, California and Markham, Ontario and a distribution center in Richmond, Kentucky.

History

In 1856, William Rand opened a printing shop in Chicago and two years later hired a newly-arrived Irish immigrant, Andrew McNally, to work in his shop. The shop did big business with the forerunner of the Chicago Tribune, and in 1859 Rand and McNally were hired to run the Tribune's entire printing operation. In 1868, the two men formally established Rand McNally & Co. and bought out the Tribune's printing business. The company initially focused on printing tickets and timetables for Chicago's booming railroad industry, and the following year supplemented that business by publishing complete railroad guides. In 1870, the company expanded into printing business directories and an illustrated newspaper, the People's Weekly. According to company lore, during the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Rand McNally quickly had two of the company's printing machines buried in a sandy beach of Lake Michigan, and the company was up and running again only a few days later.

The very first Rand McNally map, created using a new cost-saving wax engraving method, appeared in the December 1872 edition of its Railroad Guide. Rand McNally became an incorporated business in 1873, with Rand as its president and McNally as vice president. The Business Atlas, containing maps and data pertinent to business planning, was first published in 1876. The atlas is still updated today, now titled the Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide. The Trade Book department was established in 1877, publishing such titles as The Locust Plague in the United States. Rand McNally began publishing educational maps in 1880 with its first line of maps, globes, and geography textbooks, soon followed by a world atlas. The company began publishing general literature in 1884 with its first title, The Secret of Success, and the Textbook department was established in 1894 with The Rand McNally Primary School Geography. Also in 1894, the company opened an office in New York City headed by Caleb S. Hammond, who later started his own map company.

By 1899, the company employed nearly 700 people. William Rand retired and sold his interest to the other company officers. Andrew McNally assumed the role of president until his death in 1904. Rand died the following year. Andrew's son, Frederick McNally, became president of the company upon his father's death, just as the age of the automobile was beginning. Rand McNally's first road map, the New Automobile Road Map of New York City & Vicinity, was published in 1904. When Frederick McNally died in 1907, his sister's husband, Henry Beach Clow, became president. In 1910, the company acquired the line of Photo-Auto Guides from G.S. Chapin, which provided photographs of routes and intersections with directions. Andrew McNally II (son of Frederick McNally) personally took photos on his honeymoon for the Chicago-to-Milwaukee edition. The company continued to expand its book publishing business, with best-selling children's books such as The Real Mother Goose (1916) and Kon-Tiki (1950).

Read more at Wikipedia.org