Rhode Island in 1879 - Providence, Newport, Woonsocket

This map of Rhode Island was engraved and published by Rand McNally & Co. of Chicago in 1879 for the fourth edition of their Business Atlas, the firm's first general atlas, originally issued only three years earlier covering just the Pacific slope states before expanding to cover the entire country. The sheet is finished in outline color with railroads picked out in red and both Greenwich and Washington marked as prime meridians, and it includes a dedicated inset of Providence, giving the state capital the same close-up treatment larger cities received on Rand McNally's bigger state sheets. Rhode Island in 1879 was the smallest state in the Union but one of the original thirteen colonies, and its compact size meant this single sheet could capture its entire rail and county network in fine detail.

Providence, shown in its own inset, anchored the map as the state capital and its dominant commercial and manufacturing center. Newport is marked along the coast, already established as a fashionable summer resort as well as a historic colonial port. Woonsocket appears in the state's northern mill country, one of the textile towns whose factories were transforming Rhode Island into an industrial economy. Block Island Sound and Narragansett Bay are both named, outlining the state's coastline and underscoring how much of Rhode Island's geography and economy were shaped by the sea. Together these places capture a small state balancing old colonial ports against new industrial mill towns.

This map suits anyone with roots in Providence, Newport or the Woonsocket mill towns, or a collector interested in Rand McNally's early business atlases. Rhode Island buyers should also note we carry the state as depicted in the 1935 Tercentenary map produced by the State Planning Board, a later decorative commemorative sheet; this 1879 Rand McNally edition is the working, commercially oriented counterpart, prized for its railroad detail and Providence inset. It is available unframed in a full range of sizes, from a compact study print to a larger statement piece.