Maps of Texas are a great resource to help learn about a place at a particular point in time. Old Texas maps are effective sources of geographical information and useful for historical, genealogical and territorial research.

Our collection of Texas maps includes many different historic and modern types of maps. The maps date from the 19th century to the present and include:

State Map of Texas County Boundaries and County Seats
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State Map of Texas County Boundaries and County Seats
  • Texas Township maps, including maps showing the progress of the original government surveys
  • Texas Road, Highway and railroad maps
  • Texas Maps showing the state’s geological features
  • Texas Nautical charts
  • Texas timeline of county boundaries changes
  • Texas Military maps
  • Texas Maps of specific towns, counties, islands, harbors, and bodies of water
  • Colonial era maps of Texas
  • Bird’s eye views of Texas cities and towns

Historical Maps of Texas are a great resource to help learn about a place at a particular point in time. Texas Maps are vital historical evidence but must be interpreted cautiously and carefully.

Many Texas maps are available at various repositories, such as the GLO.  The Texas State Library’s Archives Division holds a particularly large map collection.  That collection includes Texas map compilations, photocopies, and original documents. Some of them are road and highway maps, while others are land survey maps, state maps, or county maps.

Coastal maps, town plats, nautical maps, street maps, and bird’s eye maps are also included, and the collection is indexed according to date and map location.  Maps in the collection that were deposited at the Texas State Library before 1965. The Map Collection of the Texas State Archives.

The University of Texas libraries in both El Paso and Austin also hold useful state map collections, as does Southern Methodist University DeGrolyer Library. The University of Texas Libraries provides highly detailed Texas Map of D.O.T. County Road and Highway’s online.

Old Historical Atlas Maps of Texas

This Historical Texas Map Collection are from original copies. Most historical maps of Texas were published in atlases and spans over 200 years of growth for the state.

Some Texas maps years have cities, railroads, P.O. locations, township outlines, and other features useful to the Texas researcher.

Remember, Texas was at one-time part of Mexico before becoming a state.

1822 Geographical, Historical, And Statistical Atlas Map Of Mexico
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Carey’s 1822 Geographical, Historical, And Statistical Atlas Map Of Mexico

  • Map Date: 1822
  • Map Locations: Mexico, Texas
  • Map Publication: A Complete Historical, Chronological, And Geographical American Atlas, Being A Guide To The History Of North And South America, And The West Indies … To The Year 1822.
  • Map Type: National Atlas
  • Map Cartographer: Henry Charles Carey & Isaac Lea
1823 State Map of Texas Territory showing Mexico and California
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1823 State Map of Texas Territory showing Mexico and California

  • Map Date: 1823
  • Map Locations: Texas, Mexico, California
  • Map Description: One of the earliest maps of Mexico printed in the United States after Mexican Independence on August 24, 1821. The present map boldly depicts the boundary between the US and the newly formed country of Mexico, less tha 2 years after Mexican Independence. The map also shows Mexico at the dawn of the modern history of Texas.
1827 Map of Mexico including Texas and Upper California
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Finley’s 1827 Map of Mexico including Texas and Upper California

  • Map Date: 1827
  • Map Locations: Mexico, Texas and California
  • Map Publication: A New General Atlas, Comprising a Complete Set of Maps, representing the Grand Divisions of the Globe, Together with the several Empires, Kingdoms and States in the World; Compiled from the Best Authorities, and corrected by the Most Recent Discoveries, Philadelphia, 1827.
  • Map Type: National Atlas
  • Map Cartographer: Anthony Finley (1784 – 1836)
1836 State Map of Texas, with the Contiguous American
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1836 State Map of Texas, with the Contiguous American

  • Map Date: 1823
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description: The Young & Mitchell map is one of the earliest and most important elements of the founding cartographic sequence of Texas and features a wealth of information that makes it one of the most detailed and compelling contemporary depictions of the ‘Lone Star Republic’.
1837 State Map of Texas on the eve of Independence
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1837 State Map of Texas on the eve of Independence

  • Map Date: 1837
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description:
1837 State Map of Texas
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Austin’s 1837 State Map of Texas

  • Map Date: 1837
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description: Austin showed showed them silver mines, Indian villages and places rich in iron ore. He showed them prairies and hill country, the crosstimbers and the arc of the Comanchee frontier.
    Because of his map, Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas, is also the father of the Texan imagination, hard-wired to see possibility and opportunity where lesser folk see danger and hardship.
    His was the first printed map to show the new settlements of San Felipe de Austin, Gonzalez, Victoria, Matagorda, Brazoria and Harrisburg. It also showed accurately the positions long established towns like San Antonio, Nacogdoches, Goliad and Copano, as well as the roads between them.
  • Map Cartographer: Stephen F. Austin
1838-39 State Map of Texas or Republic of Texas
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1838-39 State Map of Texas or Republic of Texas

  • Map Date: 1838-39
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description: Nice example of this early edition of Bradford’s large map of the Republic of Texas, first published in 1838.
1841 Map of Texas Compiled from Surveys Recorded in the Land Office of Texas
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1841 Map of Texas Compiled from Surveys Recorded in the Land Office of Texas

  • Map Date: 1841
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description:
1844 State Map of Texas
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1844 State Map of Texas

  • Map Date: 1844
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description:
1845 Map of the Indian Territory, northern Texas and New Mexico showing the great western prairies
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Morse’s 1845 Map of the Indian Territory, northern Texas and New Mexico showing the great western prairies

  • Map Date: 1842 (Entered 1842)
  • Map Locations: Texas, New Mexico
  • Map Publication: Morse’s North American atlas. Containing the following beautifully colored maps
  • Map Type: National Atlas
  • Map Cartographer: Sidney Edwards Morse (1794-1871 ) and Samuel Breese (1802-1873)
1845 State Map of Texas
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Morse’s 1845 State Map of Texas

  • Map Date: 1842 (Entered 1842)
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Publication: Morse’s North American atlas. Containing the following beautifully colored maps
  • Map Type: National Atlas
  • Map Cartographer: Sidney Edwards Morse (1794-1871 ) and Samuel Breese (1802-1873)
1845 State Map of Texas From the most recent authorities
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Tanner’s 1845 State Map of Texas From the most recent authorities

  • Map Date: 1845
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description: This is the rare first state of Tanner’s 1845 map of the Republic, pre-dating, the addition of a number of Texas Counties formed in 1845 and 1846.
1846 Map of Texas To Illustrate Olney's School Geography
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1846 Map of Texas To Illustrate Olney’s School Geography

  • Map Date: 1846
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description: Early school atlas map of Texas, published by Olney. The map locates early Texas Counties, towns, rivers and some important early battle sites.
1847 State Map of Texas From the most recent authorities
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1847 State Map of Texas From the most recent authorities

  • Map Date: 1847
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description:
1850 State Map of Texas From the most recent authorities
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1850 State Map of Texas From the most recent authorities

  • Map Date: 1850
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description: shows all of Texas, with the northern tip in an inset in the lower left corner. The map depicts topographical information with clear precision, including towns, rivers, roads, and the site of the Battle of San Jacinto (1836). The map shows a number of oversized Texas counties. Examples of these large early counties include Robertson and Milam, extending from central Texas northwestward to the Red River; San Patricio, extending from the Nueces to the Rio Grande; and Bexar, comprising not only the present county of that name but lands to the southwest and west along the Rio Grande and northwards into the present panhandle.
1853 State Map of Texas with insets of Sabine Lake and Galveston area
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1853 State Map of Texas with insets of Sabine Lake and Galveston area

  • Map Date: 1853
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Description: The map shows a very incomplete set of western Texas Counties. The German settlements in Gillespie County are still shown. Includes roads, towns, counties, Indian trails, Connelly’s Trail, Proposed Pacific RR Route, Smith & Whitney’s Route, the Route to Ft. Smith, Loredo Road, Upper Presidio Road, Lower Presidio Road, etc. Many forts and other places of interest are shown.
1856 State Map of Texas with two inset maps Plan of Galveston Bay From the U.S. Coast Survey and Plan of Sabine Lake
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Colton’s 1856 State Map of Texas with two inset maps Plan of Galveston Bay From the U.S. Coast Survey and Plan of Sabine Lake

  • Map Date: 1856 (Entered 1855)
  • Map Locations: Texas
  • Map Publication: Colton’s Atlas Of The World, Illustrating Physical And Political Geography.
  • Map Type: World Atlas
  • Map Cartographer: Joseph Hutchins Colton (1800-1893)
1880 State, County and Township Map of Texas also Showing portions of the adjoining states and territories with Plan of Galveston and vicinity
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Mitchell’s 1880 State, County and Township Map of Texas also Showing portions of the adjoining states and territories with Plan of Galveston and vicinity

  • Map Date: 1880 (Entered 1879)
  • Map Locations: Texas, City of Galveston TX
  • Map Publication: Mitchell’s New General Atlas
  • Map Type: World Atlas
  • Map Cartographer: Samuel Augustus Mitchell Jr. (1827-1901)

Map of Texas County Formations 1834 to 1931

This Interactive Map of Texas Counties show the historical boundaries, names, organization, and attachments of every county, extinct county and unsuccessful county proposal from the creation of the Texas territory in 1834 to 1931.

Texas County Maps of Road and Highway’s

The Texas D.O.T. Highway Department has Texas County Road Maps available at this time.

External Texas Map Resources

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