Milwaukee Map Folder

The roads of Milwaukee near the end of the Roaring 20s.

This charming Jazz Age road guide to Milwaukee, Wisconsin was published locally in 1928 by the Milwaukee Journal Tour Club. One side of the large folding sheet presents a detailed street plan of the city, with highways and the waters of Lake Michigan colored in a lovely blue. Proposed annexations, bus routes, and a new high-speed interurban are among the features shown in the legend (lower left). Insets at the top show parking restrictions downtown (along with a list of rules) and a highway map of Milwaukee County.

The verso presents a smaller-scale road map titled Milwaukee Metropolitan Area Showing State Trunk Highways, Principal County Trunks, and other Secondary Highways and Types of Surfacings.” Road surfaces range from permanent pavement (solid black) to dirt (white). A number of ‘Short Trip Combinations’, ranging in distance from 40 to 120+ miles, are listed on the left side of the sheet.

The Milwaukee Journal Tour Club was a pioneering travel program organized by the Milwaukee Journal in the mid-1910s to serve the needs of a new generation of automobile tourists. Led by newspaper vice-president “Brownie” Rowland, the club’s primary purpose was to provide motorists with accurate and up-to-date road maps and information – both on a local and national scale. The tour club was unfortunately short-lived. By 1933, it had ceased operations, largely due to competition by service organizations like AAA and the widespread availability of road maps from oil companies and local highway associations.

Source: AGS Library Blog;