1951 Official Road Map of Minnesota

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Stats:

Size: 38" x 31.75" unfolded, 9.5" x 4" folded

Scale: 1 Inch = 12 Miles

Conditions as of: January 1, 1951

Cartographers: The H.M. Gousha Company

Commissioner of Highways: M.J. Hoffmann

Governor: Luther W. Youngdahl

Map Type: Gousha (1951-1961)

(Mouse over the map to see the reverse side)

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Comments:

In 1951, the Department of Highways contracted with the H.M. Gousha Company to produce the cartography for the official highway maps. Gousha would continue to produce the official highway maps until 1961. For more details on the changes in cartography, see below.
The map key has been moved back to its traditional place in the upper right hand corner of the front of the map. It remained in this position on all maps issued by Gousha through 1961.
The Twin Cities and Duluth insets have been moved to the front of the map, and updated with new cartography. For more details, see below.
The back of the map uses a format similar to the 1950 map, with city insets in alphabetical order now surrounding a large regional map of the highways leading to Minnesota, as well as a mileage map and a new county map, which replaces the old county index (the county map was only used on the 1951 and 1952 official maps). The city insets are still in the same format introduced in 1946 (Gousha wouldn't update these until 1953).
Due to the 1950 census, three new insets for cities with populations over 10,000 have been added: Moorhead, Owatonna, and Red Wing.
The french symbol and arrowhead in the upper corners of the map have remained from the previous map design, and will continue to be placed on official maps through 1961. The blue and yellow borders have been modified into a diamond design, which will also be used through 1961.

The 1951 map was a prototype for the maps issued from 1952 through 1961 by the H.M. Gousha company. Gousha (pronounced Goo-Shay) was known at the time as one of the premier road map producers (see the wikipedia article here). The maps produced by Gousha through the 1950's and early 1960's were probably the finest official maps ever issued by the Department of Highways, although they sometimes lacked the rustic charm of the maps produced in the 1930's and 1940's.

Above, a comparison of the updated cartography introduced by Gousha in 1951 (left) , and old cartography from 1950 (right). For the most part Gousha kept the old cartographic symbols and format. The main change was in the sharpness of the features and lithography. Note the finer, more precise lines representing roads on the 1951 map, plus the improved positioning of map labels, resulting in a map that is less cluttered, and therefore much easier to read, if not a little colorless. Gousha dropped a few features, including sea plane bases, historical monuments, and look-out towers. Historical monuments would be returned in a few years. The one symbol change was for parks and roadside parking areas, now represented by small trees, rather than by squares. In reality, Gousha now counted what were once historical markers as roadside parking areas (for example, note the roadside parking area on US 212/US 169 northeast of Shakopee). The 1951 map has a definite lack of color due to the lack of yellow tints on the main map. This would be corrected in 1952.

At left, the updated 1951 Twin Cities inset (the Duluth inset used an identical format). The extent to the east, west, and south has remained the same, but has been extended north slightly to include Osseo. For some reason, Gousha has colored all routes red instead of just the US routes, which is inconsistent with the main state map (this was corrected in 1952). The new format is easier to read, but it much less detailed and colorful than the format used from 1948 to 1950. Also note that US 61 and US 12 south and east of St. Paul are represented as double lines, representing divided highways. This is the first time this has been shown on an official map.

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