1923 Rand McNally 'Blazed Trails 'Road Map of Florida for Children

This is a fascinating and rare c. 1923 Rand McNally road map of Florida created for children promoting the 'Blazed Trail' system. The 'child-sized' map allows child passengers to mimic the navigational process. Fifteen 'auto trails' are here numerically identified and correspond with a key in the upper right. Road quality and mileage between cities are provided along each route. An inset of the Florida Panhandle occupies the Gulf of Mexico. Named and blazed auto-trails appear in the upper right.

An Early Road Map and Rand McNally's Influence

When this map was created, the road network in the United States was a new concept. Americans were learning how to travel long distances via the new roads and pioneering companies were developing a new style of road map for that purpose. Rand McNally, already established as a railroad mapmaker, recognized the difficulties inherent in road maps, since routes were rarely marked, and a standard naming convention had not yet been established. Directions were based on landmarks, not highway numbers or road signs, making navigating unfamiliar roads difficult. Instead of 'turn right on Highway 30', directions would read 'turn right at the blue cottage' and a traveler had to hope they picked the right blue cottage, or that the landmark had not changed.

Blazed Trails

John Garrett Brink, a Rand McNally draftsman proposed a system to identify routes. Rand McNally created symbols for proposed routes and then would drive these routes painting symbols and highway logos on telephone poles. This became Rand McNally's 'Blazed Trail' program - a fifty-thousand-mile network of numbered, well-marked named highways that by 1922, stretched across the country. State and federal officials to followed suit and came up with their own numbering systems, ushering in the modern road map.

Publication History and Census

This map was created and published by Rand McNally c. 1923. We have encountered a handful of maps bearing the same title, but those maps have not been identical to the presently offered map. This is the only known cataloged example of the present map.