| Maps. What would we do without them? Imagine | | | | print tickets and timetables for the railroads so people |
| getting an invitation to your best friend's sister's | | | | would know when trains were departing. By 1870 their |
| girlfriend's cousin's wedding and you have no idea | | | | business had expanded to the point where they were |
| where 1313 Mockingbird Lane in East Nova Scotia | | | | printing railroad guides and even a newspaper.It wasn't |
| is.Out comes your handy Rand McNally pocket map to | | | | until 1872 though, that Rand McNally published their first |
| the rescue.Yes, Rand McNally is probably the most | | | | map in the December issue of The Railway Guide. |
| popular map maker in the United States today. If there | | | | This was actually the catalyst that started what was |
| is a spot in the U.S. with a road then Rand McNally has | | | | to become one of the biggest businesses in the United |
| a map to show you just where that road is.So, when | | | | States.After McNally died in 1905 and Rand had sold |
| did Rand McNally become the company that it has | | | | his share in the business years earlier, the business |
| become today?Rand McNally started in 1856 in | | | | was passed on to McNally's son. It was his son who |
| Chicago. At the time, this city was the economic | | | | saw the future of Rand McNally in map making. He |
| capital of the Midwest. What happened here was a | | | | realized this when he had taken a trip from Chicago to |
| humble beginning but it didn't stay that way. William | | | | Milwaukee and had taken photos of everything he |
| Rand, originally from Boston, opened up a print shop | | | | could along the way. This led to the first modern travel |
| where just about every type of printing could be found. | | | | guide, Chicago To Milwaukee. The intention of this |
| Shortly thereafter he was joined by a gentleman by | | | | guide was to show people how wonderful it would be |
| the name of Andrew McNally who was an Irish | | | | to see these beautiful places and in the process buy |
| immigrant. Rand McNally, at the time, the sum of $9 a | | | | maps to get them there. It was pure business |
| week to work for him. Together they set out to take | | | | genius.Well, to make a long story short, 150 years later, |
| care of the printing needs of the city of Chicago.Their | | | | Rand-McNally has become the leading map maker in |
| big break came in 1859 when Rand was taken on by | | | | the United States. The company offers travel products |
| the Chicago Daily Press to manage its printing shop. | | | | ranging from traditional maps and atlases to computer |
| They also took on McNally to be the shop foreman. | | | | navigation and truck driving management |
| By 1868 Rand and McNally had done well enough that | | | | software.There is nobody in the United States today |
| they were able to buy the company's contacts and | | | | who doesn't know the name Rand McNally and |
| started their own business which focused on the | | | | doesn't have at least one Rand McNally map. |
| expanding railway system. Part of what they did was | | | | |