Mapping the way to Cuba City

Paper maps may have fallen out of vogue, but they were a vital tool for automobile owners itching to hit the open road in the early 1900s. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has made it possible to do a little time traveling with their archive of over one hundred years' worth of digitized state highway maps. Hopefully, the few examples below will inspire you to visit the digital archive and explore for yourself.

The first available map comes from 1916. It was published by Rand-McNally, using data from the Wisconsin Highway Commission (today, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation). The wide red lines indicate main highways while the narrow red lines are secondary roads.

In 1918, the Wisconsin Highway Commission began publishing its own map, which showed off the state's new, uniformly numbered highway system--the first in the country! (The Highway Commission was tasked by the state legislature in 1917 with creating the system of roads to connect county seats and all communities of 5,000 or more people.) Note that Highway 80 did not yet exist, and Highway 20, which would later become Highway 11, appears to takes a more northerly route to Cuba City. The green numbers and shapes on the map refer to points of interest, the list of which was not digitized.

On the 1920 map, Highway 80 makes its first appearance, and Highway 20 (later Highway 11) no longer runs north to Cuba City.

In 1922, a distinction was made between surfaced roads (red) and earth roads (purple). Wide dotted red lines indicated "light coverings of gravel, etc.," which allowed for good travel in the summer. Wide solid red lines were highways surfaced with concrete. Wide dashed purple lines indicated roads that were not surfaced and slippery after rain. Thin lines on the map were county roads.

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On the 1934 map, Highway 20 is renamed Highway 11. Highway 80 was considered a "semi-hard road," surfaced with gravel, crushed stone, etc., and the surrounding county roads were surfaced with gravel, macadam, etc. Note that Highway 81 to Darlington and Highway 61 south of Dickeyville were "hard roads," surfaced with concrete or bituminous surfacings.