1953 Official Road Map of Minnesota

Stats:

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

Scale: 1 Inch = 12 Miles

Conditions as of: January 1, 1953

Cartographers: The H.M. Gousha Company

Commissioner of Highways: M.J. Hoffmann

Governor: C. Elmer Anderson

Map Type: Gousha (1951-1961)

(Mouse over the map to see the reverse side)

Previous Year (1952) | Maps Home | Next Year (1954)

Comments:

• After the experiment with a different folding pattern in 1952, the 1953 map returned to the traditional folding format. The arrangement and size of the Twin Cities and Duluth insets, plus the district office and state park indexes, were also returned to the format seen on the 1951 map.
• The map legend has been fancied up a bit, with stylized cursive writing for the headings, and decorative scroll work around the map explanation.
• The basic format of the reverse side of the 1953 map - with city insets, a national highway map, city index, mileage chart, and color photographs - would be used as the basis for the maps issued through 1961 (with various rearrangements).
• An updated format for the city insets was introduced in 1953 (for more details see below). The new insets were arranged in an ordered grid surrounding a national highway map. Although previous official maps had included regional highways maps on occasion (see 1937, 1939, 1946, 1951, and 1952) , the national highway map introduced in 1953 was a first.
• An inset for the city of Bemidji has been added, bringing the number of insets up to 16. Bemidji passed the 10,000 population mark according to the 1950 census (the initial census results included on the 1951 map placed it just below 10,000).
• A large mileage finder has been added to the reverse side of the map. This type of chart was last seen on the 1948 map. The maps issued from 1950 to 1952 opted for a mileage map instead. A small chart for mileage to cities outside of Minnesota has also been added.
• The county map seen only on the 1951 and 1952 maps has been removed in favor of a traditional county index, which is positioned next to the mileage charts on the reverse side.
• 1953 map was the second official map to feature the state capitol building on the cover (the first was in 1940). Coincidentally (or not), 1953 was the same year that the modern capital mall was completed, according to dated photos found on the Minnesota Historical Society Online Visual Database.

At left, a close-up of a few examples of the new city inset format introduced in 1953. The new format is sharper and more detailed in comparison to the format used on highway maps from 1946 to 1952. The old "bubble" format used for roads has been replaced by simple solid lines. Trunk highways are still represented in red.