Attention Map Nerds

August 31, 2009 11:26 AM

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.The Newberry Library has an online atlas of U.S. States and how their county boundaries have changed over time. Once you have your state on the screen, type in a date and you will see the historical county borders over the current borders.

In the future they promise to have shapefiles available for downloading.

posted by marxchivist (11 comments total)

I'm just such a dork. I love this sort of thing.
posted by marxchivist at 11:26 AM on August 31

Texas has too many counties. I'd like to go back to the good old days when Bexar County went all the way to Wyoming.
posted by birdherder at 11:31 AM on August 31

Mmmmmmmm............ maps.......

and marxchivist, you are hardly alone.
posted by desjardins at 11:34 AM on August 31

Until I realized you were from NC too, I thought that "your state" was some kind of code that would give each reader their own link based on, I don't know, magic? Really interesting stuff - thanks.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 11:44 AM on August 31

Didn't realize there was such a phrase as map nerd. You can tell when a county became important when other counties stop claiming it, and it instead eats up neighboring counties.
posted by shinyshiny at 11:59 AM on August 31

Sweet!
posted by elder18 at 12:21 PM on August 31

It's a scary thing to realize that certain branches of your family tree have been in the same place for so long that they believe they've moved just because the county name changed.
posted by thivaia at 12:38 PM on August 31

Very fascinating for map and history nerds. Thanks.
posted by Roman Graves at 3:29 PM on August 31

Very cool. Your state is my state & my couty (Rowan) was huge in the 1700's, but I never knew how extensive it truly was.
posted by pappy at 5:24 PM on August 31

Cool!
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:49 PM on August 31

neat! I was able to find the exact day the county I live in was formed. (February 23, 1821 - Happy Birthday, Monroe County!)
posted by Lucinda at 6:28 AM on September 1