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Club Information Map Information Buy/Sell/Trade Maps Miscellaneous
| RMCA - Summer 1997 Newsletter PreviewWho Gave Away the First Free Road Maps? - Part II In Part I of this series, which appeared in the Spring, 1997 RMCA Newsletter, we answered the question in our headline by concluding that the first oil company to give away road maps was Union Oil of California, which started it in 1910. That was even earlier than Monarch Refining, who started in 1912, and Gulf, which began in 1914. We concluded Part I by noting that other businesses involved in the automobile game were giving out road maps long before any oil company did, so let's take a look at some of them and see what they offered to early motorists. There were many road map publisheres in the early 20th century, but almost invariably, a motorist had to buy the map, or pay to join the organization to get one. Businesses that would buy maps, have their imprint or advertising printed on them, and give them away to their customers as a good-will gesture were few indeed, but not entirely unknown. Aside from the oil companies we have already mentioned, there were a few auto manufacturers, dealers, and tire companies among the early distributors of free auto road maps. ... Mapmakers Go to War As the United States prepared to enter into World War II, the priorities from many items related to the automobile and travel changed. With gasoline being rationed and travel severly restricted, road maps, which had become a popular giveaway at service stations, were not being produced in the quantities they had been before the war. New highway construction ceased and supplies of paper were also limited. The major map producers responded to these changing conditions by producing maps that would provide information about the war effort. I recently ran accross a map produced in 1941 by Rand McNally and Co. for the Standard Oil of Ohio stations (Sohio). The Training Camp Map of the United Statesshowed the larger training centers of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. ... Map Sheet Marathon Maps, 1930-1976
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