UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN River Falls

Genealogy

Maps

Bird's-Eye Maps

City Maps

County Maps

Fire Insurance Maps

Land Ownership Maps

Soil Surveys

                                                                   Order Copies (Order Forms, Fees)


For all types of maps, check the UWRF online library catalog for any recent additions. Also check the catalog for maps contained within manuscripts or government records collections, and in books, that do not easily fit into one of the categories below. Check the catalog, too, for the Library's Government Documents collection, which contains many types of maps, including the USGS topographical maps collection.

Bird's-Eye View MapsRiver Falls birds eye 1880

The bird's-eye view, panoramic, perspective, or aero view map was a popular cartographic form in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They depict an aerial view of entire cities or villages. They were not drawn to scale so the perspective is distorted, but they do show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features.

The only bird's-eye view map that the Archives has is the 1880 bird's-eye view of River Falls (image to the right). There was also an 1870 bird's-eye view map of Hudson, but we only have a reproduction copy.

Learn more about bird's-eye view maps on the Wisconsin Historical Society's website. The Library of Congress website has information on birds-eye view maps for the entire country.

 

City Maps

While older city maps tend to be fire insurance maps or from plat books, most modern city maps that the Archives has tend to be promotional maps, published by a chamber of commerce or a newspaper.

This list is a work in progress.

City

Years Available in the UWRF Archives

Hudson

1995, 2008, 2010

River Falls

1994, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010


 

County MapsSt Croix County 1938 map

This section is a work in progress. It will contain maps for the ARC's four counties (Burnett, Pierce, Polk, and Saint Croix), such as State Highway Commission county maps, promotional maps, and maps created for various other purposes. 

                                                                                      Saint Croix County, 1938

For older maps of counties, see also the Land Ownership Maps.

County

Years Available in the UWRF Archives

Burnett

1953, 1954, 1959, 1978, 2008, 2012

Pierce

1954, 1996, 2007, 2008, 2009

Polk

1938, 1975

Saint Croix

1886, 1938, 1947, 1953, 1962, 1996, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010


 

Fire Insurance MapsSanborn map of Osceola from 1926

Fire insurance maps were created to assist insurance agents in determining the degree of fire hazard associated with a particular property. They are large, detailed, color-keyed, building-level maps of select cities and villages. The most widely-known company—and the majority of our maps—was the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company. They updated their maps every decade or so, which allows researchers to see, for example, the development of the business district, additions being made to residences, or the deletion of outbuildings.

Learn more about Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps on the Wisconsin Historical Society's website.  They have digitized all pre-1923 Wisconsin Sanborn maps.

                                                                            Portion of Sanborn map for Osceola, 1926

County

City

Years Available in the UWRF Archives

Burnett

Grantsburg

1894, 1902, 1916, 1931

Pierce

Ellsworth

1894, 1900, 1912, 1927, 1927 base map updated to 1940

 

Prescott

1884, 1892, 1898, 1902, 1912

 

River Falls

1884, 1891, 1900, 1912, 1927, 1927 base map updated to 1935

 

Spring Valley

1900, 1912, 1931

Polk

Amery

1911, 1926, 1926 base map updated to 1938

 

Frederic

1911, 1926

 

Osceola

1911, 1926

 

Saint Croix Falls

1885, 1892, 1899, 1917, 1926, 1926 base map updated to 1935

Saint Croix

Baldwin

1902, 1912, 1930

 

Glenwood City

1893, 1900, 1912, 1930

 

Hammond

1895, 1902, 1930

 

Hudson

1884, 1891, 1900, 1912, 1924, 1924 base map updated to 1945

 

New Richmond

1887, 1892, 1900, 1912, 1927, 1927 base map updated to 1943

 

River Falls

1884, 1891, 1900, 1912, 1927, 1927 base map updated to 1935

 

Wilson

1925


 

Land Ownership (Plat) MapsStar Prairie Township plat map 1914

Wisconsin land ownership maps and atlases—often referred to as plat maps—identify local landowners in a county and provide information about the county's topographic and cultural features. Township maps show the boundaries and acreage of farms, locations of churches, cemeteries, schools, quarries, cheese factories, and other businesses. The township maps also show roads and railways, and topographical features such as rivers, lakes, marshlands, and hills. Click on map for larger view

Learn more about land ownership maps on the Wisconsin Historical Society's website.

County

Years Available in the UWRF Archives

Burnett

1915, 1930, 1931, 1948, 1962, 1965, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1983, 1991, 1997, 2006, 2010

Pierce

1877-1878, 1895, 1908, 1917, 1922, 1930, 1941, 1949, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1989, 1992, 1999, 2006, 2010, 2013

Polk

1887, 1914, 1924, 1931, ca. 1940, 1950, 1962, 1966, 1969, 1972, 1980, 1986, 1989, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2007, 2010

Saint Croix

1876, 1886, 1897*, 1914, 1925, 1929, 1938, 1949, 1956, 1959, 1961, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 2005, 2008, 2010


* For digital copies of Baldwin (Town of and Village of), Hammond, and Woodville only from the 1897 plat book, see the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. Use the Search Box; a search for "Baldwin maps 1897" will find all of them. Additionally, there is a plat map of the Village of Baldwin only, ca. 1890-1899, which you can find by searching "Baldwin maps 1890." (The River Falls ARC does not have a copy of this last map.)

We also have a few plat map books for neighboring counties:

County

Years Available in the UWRF Archives

Barron

2008, 2012

Dunn

1888, 1927, 2008, 2011, 2013

Pepin

1877, 2003, 2008, 2012

Rusk

2007

Washburn

2008, 2012

 

Resort/Tourist/Trail Maps

Tourism is, and has been, big business in northwest Wisconsin. Maps showing the resorts, lakes, fishing, and various kinds of trails were common for counties and larger areas to produce.

Area

Years Available in the UWRF Archives

Burnett County

1950s (resorts), 1970s (resorts)

Crex Meadows Wildlife Area

1960s, 2003

Danbury Area

1947 (resorts)

Grantsburg Area

1960s (resorts)

Indianhead Country
(Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Chippewa, Douglas, Dunn,
Eau Claire, Polk, Rusk, Sawyer, St. Croix, Washburn counties)

ca.1939

Interstate Park (St. Croix Falls)

20?? (Hiking trails)

Northwest Wisconsin
(Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Chippewa, Douglas,
Iron, Polk, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Washburn counties)

2014 (ATV & UTV trails)

Osceola

2015 (trails)

Polk County

2015-16 (snowmobile & ATV trails)

Trade River
(Governor Knowles State Forest)

2010 (equestrian trail)


Soil Surveys and Maps

A county soil survey includes a brief overview of the county's geography, plus a soil map with a brief description of each of the major soil types found in the county.

County

Years Available in the UWRF Archives

Burnett

2006*

Pierce

1930, 1968, 2006*

Polk

1979*

Saint Croix

1978*


* For digitized copies of these years, see the United States Department of Agriculture's soil surveys for Wisconsin on the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service website.

 

Contact Us

University Archives and
Area Research Center

170 Chalmer Davee Library
archives@uwrf.edu
(715) 425-3567
Fax (715) 425-0609

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