Rand McNally

Rand McNally is the premier global provider of geographic information and services--in both print and electronic media--for travel, reference, education, and entertainment. Rand McNally & Company, a leading U.S. publisher of travel books and electronic media for the travel industry, is perhaps best known for its maps and atlases, including the top-selling Rand McNally Road Atlas, a travel atlas which is updated every year. The company also creates such software as TripMaker and StreetFinder, and markets maps and globes for use in U.S. classrooms. Through its Transportation Data Management (TDM) operating unit, Rand McNally is the largest electronic publisher of information for the commercial transportation industry. Rand McNally & Company began in 1856 as a small printing business established on Chicago's Lake Street by company cofounders William Rand and Andrew McNally. In 1864 Rand and McNally bought the job printing department of the Chicago Tribune and began printing railroad tickets and timetables, but it was not for nearly another ten years that the first Rand McNally map would appear in the 1872 Railway Guide. Opting to expand the scope of its printed products, the company began producing globes and maps for schools in 1880. By the end of the century, when Rand retired and sold his share of the company to McNally, the fledgling printing business had grown to employ a workforce of nearly 700. Andrew McNally died in 1904, and cofounder William Rand passed away the following year. Rand McNally began publishing road maps and road atlases in 1907 with the first photo-auto guide, which detailed the route of an automobile trip from Chicago to New York. The photo-auto guide consisted of directions for automobile drivers, along with accompanying photos to aid the traveler. The photos used in the company's subsequent Chicago-to-Milwaukee photo-auto guide would be taken by Andrew McNally II and his bride during their honeymoon in 1909. In 1917 Rand McNally published the first road map to feature numbered highways. The numbering system, invented by a map draftsman named John Brink, eliminated the need for long names, which were difficult to depict on maps. Brink became the head of Rand McNally's new "Blazed Trails" department. In addition to producing the road maps, Rand McNally was also responsible for erecting many highway signs. In the first of many partnerships between Rand McNally and the nation's oil companies, Rand McNally was hired in 1918 by the Gulf Oil Company to produce maps for a Gulf promotional campaign. The company also began producing educational materials for students. In 1922 Rand McNally published the first edition of Goode's World Atlas, named for its first editor, Dr. J. Paul Goode. The book became the standard geography text for U.S. high schools and colleges and would see its 19th edition published in the mid-1990s. The first Rand McNally Road Atlas was published in 1924. By this time Rand McNally had completed publication of a complete set of numbered highway maps covering the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Among company milestones was the fact that in 1927 Rand McNally railroad maps were used by Charles Lindbergh for navigation over land during his historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1933 Andrew McNally II became president of the company. Under his leadership, an early foray into retail operations was realized when the first Rand McNally Map & Travel Store was opened in New York City in 1937. Demand for Rand McNally maps, particularly European maps, escalated during World War II. In fact, the company's presses began working 24 hours a day to meet orders, and that schedule continued throughout the war. Aside from products for the war effort, the company also engaged in children's book publishing. During the 1940s Rand McNally published the works of noted children's author Marguerite Henry, whose bestselling children's books included Misty of Chincoteague and King of the Wind. In 1947