Ohio in 1889 - Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton

George F. Cram produced this map of Columbus for the third edition of his Standard American Atlas of the World, issued in 1889 from his New York office under manager Wm. M. Goldthwaite, an edition the firm's own advertising described as offering "the largest scale and clearest print of any atlas maps published" for its American city plans. The Columbus sheet is printed in soft pastel color within a black engraved border, with a compass rose set for orientation, a more restrained decorative treatment than Cram would later use in his 1899 railway atlas plans of other Midwestern cities. The map covers Columbus, Ohio, in the late 1880s, a period of rapid growth for the state capital as its university, its rail connections, and its state government offices were together drawing a wave of new residents to the city.

Ohio State University is marked prominently on the sheet, already established as one of the city's defining institutions barely two decades after its 1870 founding as the state's land-grant college. The Scioto River is traced running through the map, the waterway that had determined Columbus's original site as the state capital and continued to shape its westward growth. Railroad lines are shown converging on the city from several directions, underscoring Columbus's role as a rail crossroads connecting the state capital to Ohio's other major cities. Public parks and open spaces are marked as well, evidence of the civic planning a capital city was expected to display even as it expanded rapidly around its university and rail yards.

This 1889 edition is well suited to a Columbus or central Ohio family with ties to the university or the state government, a Buckeye State transplant, or a collector pairing this with the store's other Ohio city maps of Cleveland from earlier and later Cram-era editions. It is available unframed in a full range of sizes, from a compact study print to a larger statement piece for an office or study.