Iowa Map Mysteries of 1875 (Andreas Atlas)

Jeffrey A. Rothermel

July 26, 2026

Captain's Log:

The Iowa Map Mysteries of 1875

Also Known as the:

Illustrated Historical Atlas

of the

State of Iowa

1875

Published by the

Andreas Atlas Company

Lakeside Building Chicago Illinois

Original and 1875 Iowa Atlas Reprint (Facsimile)

Above Photo enhancements by Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

Top book on the left:

Andreas, A.T.. ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE STATE OF IOWA 1875. Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1875.

Top book on the right:

Andreas, A.T.. ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL ATLAS OF THE STATE OF IOWA 1875 [Reprint circa 1970]. [Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa, circa 1970.]

Written thought, to include

typos and grammar mistakes

by

Jeffrey A. Rothermel

A.T. Andreas State of Iowa Atlas 1875

There are two versions of the 1875 Illustrated Historical Atlas State of Iowa which occasionally confuse both Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and human beings. The original 1875 atlas was an incredible creation by Alfred Theodore Andreas. It is commonly referred to as the A.T. Andreas Atlas. Nearly a hundred years later, the superintendent of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI), William J. Peterson, spearheaded a 12,000-print run of the atlas. Occasionally the "1970's facsimile reprint" gets identified as an original Illustrated Historical Atlas of Iowa 1875. This essay highlights the differences between the two versions. A frequent question that I receive concerning these two atlases, and their maps concerns their financial value. This essay will touch upon some of the factors that cause variances in value in different markets. It will also highlight how to identify the two types of atlases.

This essay concludes with a mystery of a long-forgotten business in West Liberty, Iowa. The mystery is used to illustrate the utility of the original atlas with modern computers. It is intended to explain why the original, then the facsimile and modern computers all have valid roles for understanding aspects of our past. The financial value of each media will change over time and will depend upon the market for which it is being considered. This log entry illustrates how one antiquarian book can cause a person to travel in and through many rabbit holes. Somethings take time to investigate, unravel, and understand. Computers do not always present an instant and correct answer. The ability to sift through valid versus invalid data are things human beings do every day. The "appeal to authority" / computer artificial intelligence (AI) / the smart phone is strong. How do we know if AI used all the right data and filtered out invalid inputs?

Are you ready

to explore?

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): The original atlas was larger (18" x 14.75" x 2" thick) and contained color maps. The hardbound book weight was nearly fourteen U.S. pounds. It was published by Andreas Atlas Company of Chicago, Illinois. The facsimile reprint was smaller (12" x 9") in size and had no color graphics. It was published by the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI) before 1973 in Iowa City, Iowa. Computerized search engines have occasionally grouped a first edition color atlas from 1875 with the numerous black and white reprints from the 1970s. The confusion is understandable because the facsimile reprint does not clearly state a date of printing. The facsimile was published by SHSI sometime before 1973. SHSI and its director William J. Peterson opted not to insert a STATE OF IOWA SOCIETY OF IOWA Title-Page followed by a PRINTER'S IMPRINT & COPYRIGHT page at the front of the reprint. The reason for the single leaf omission may have been financially driven. Taxpayer funds were not used to print the 1970s reprint. The reprint's introduction by William J. Peterson implied 12,000 facsimile atlases were printed and bound in Iowa City in the 1970s. An exact publishing date for the Peterson Reprint was not found / verified.[1.]

Original First Edition Cover of the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of Iowa 1875

The original atlas was printed on paper that has the heft and feel of newspaper without the ink-bleed. A single paper leaf was 14.5 inches wide by 17.5 inches tall. No watermarks were noted on any of the original pages.

Photograph of an original Title Page of the A.T. Andreas Atlas (First Edition).

The 1970's reprint was made on a glossy white paper. Each leaf was nine inches wide by twelve inches tall. No watermarks were noted on any of the pages.

The Iowa Historical Society 1970s facsimile reprint.

The 1970s facsimile atlas can be found in in the wild - in various forms. Legitimate "used" library binding atlases of the facsimile occasionally pop into the used book market. They tell the story of "the rust belt," closure of rural libraries and beginning of internet maps.

Facsimile 1875 Atlas published in the 1970s. (Iowa City Public Library)

The most common binding for the 1970s State of Iowa Historical Society reprint of the 1875 Iowa Atlas was padded leatherette boards with silver lettering. I refer to this version of atlas as the Peterson Atlas. William J. Peterson (1901-1989), PhD History University of Iowa 1930 was director of the State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI). During Peterson's time leading SHSI, membership grew from 1,000 to almost 11,000 members. The Peterson Atlas symbolizes an increased interest by the public in local history.[2.] The Peterson Atlas was undoubtably a key tool used in increasing public interest in local Iowa history.

Facsimile 1875 Atlas published in the early 1970s with leatherette binding [Fair Condition].

Publisher State Historical Society of Iowa (SHSI), Iowa City

The facsimile atlases remain plentiful. The used facsimile leatherette books currently retail online for $25 - $150. (Book condition matters.) I have sold multiple copies of the facsimile leatherette atlas out of my showroom. The most recent one was in very good condition and sold for $85.

=====

An original [First Edition, with colored maps] Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa1875 Published by the Andreas Atlas Company, Chicago Illinois can retail at $450 - $1,300+. (Book condition really matters.) Public eBay sales records show an original atlas sold at auction for as low as $150 plus $14.57 shipping on June 6, 2024. Three eBay sales of original atlases occurred in 2025 at $250, $255, $265 plus shipping rates of

$11.79, $16.63 and $22. A complete atlas with attached boards weighs 13.75 pounds. A properly packed and double boxed for safe shipping atlas weight would be sixteen to twenty pounds. A complete, original atlas has 590 pages.[3.]

Worthpoint data revealed 996 "sold items matching Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa 1875." The highest sold A.T. Andreas Atlas was $1,400 on June 10, 2013. Another sold for $1,275.90 on May 24, 2013.

Worthpoint.com: Sold Data 1875 Historical Atlas of Iowa

1875 State of Iowa A.T. Andreas Map

Due to the size and weight of the book, the boards are often detached from the atlas. The front board has a golden illustration. The back board has the same illustration blind stamped into the board without the gold coloring.

1875 Atlas Back Board

Front & Back 1875 Atlas Cover Comparison

=====

Page 15 is the critical page for understanding how the first section of the original atlas was organized. Alfred Theodore Andreas organized the atlas maps by U.S. Congressional Districts. Back then, Iowa had nine seats in the U.S. House of Representatives (U.S. Congress). The State of Iowa population according to the Atlas was 1,194,020 people in 1870. Today the State of Iowa has four. The U.S. Census Bureau says Iowa's population is currently 3,238,387. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Iowa

The first 250 pages of the book generally consisted of maps. The next thirty pages were biographies of historical Iowans. It was followed by the history of Iowa which ended on page 312. The next section was not numbered and contained a list of all the post offices in the United States as of March 1, 1875. History of each county began on page 341. The county history began with Dubuque County which at the time was in Congressional District Three. [The listing of the counties was not in alphabetical order or by congressional district.] Andreas appeared to lead with the counties on the Mississippi River with a colorful and long history and then skipped literally all over the map.

The manner in which Andreas constructed the atlas makes it difficult for people to determine if a single map, or a section of the atlas is missing. The State Historical Society of Iowa under the direction of Dr. William J. Peterson did the work in the 1970s of verifying the accuracy of a complete atlas. Therefore, having a complete 1970s SHSI Peterson reprint is recommended when examining an original 1875 A.T. Andreas Atlas.

Standford University Libraries made a bibliographic note concerning the A.T. Andreas Atlas of 1875: "Andreas made 9 separate editions of this atlas, one for each of the 9 Congressional Districts; each district ed. had special views of that district." [4.] Oddly, the A.T. Andreas Atlas I am reviewing does not specify an edition type. It has patron and business directories for entire state.

1875 State of Iowa Congressional and Judicial Districts

The below table shows Iowa's recorded population growth. Historical census records in the atlas began at 43,112 for the year 1840 and grew to over 1.1 million in 1870. The book lacks maps or statistics for the Native Americans. There are multiple written references in county histories about interactions with "Indians." A paragraph about the history of Muscatine began with: "As there was considerable trade with these several lodges of Indians, and as it was more convenient for them to receive their heavy freight at what is now the Muscatine landing, Major George Davenport, whose principal trading post was on Rock Island, sent a Mr. Farnham, one of his agents, down from there in the Fall of 1833, who erected a small cabin on what is now Water Street, a little up the [Mississippi] river from Iowa Avenue, and supplied it with a small stock of goods suitable for the Indian trade." (p. 367 A.T. Andreas).

Errata p. vii

"USAGE: The plural errata is sometimes employed

in the collective sense of errors." [5.]

A.T. Andreas 1875 Atlas page vii

Today, indexes are normally found at the back of a book.[6.]

The index for the A.T. Andreas 1875 Atlas is at the front of the book. The book does not have a table of contents, so it appears as though the editor chose the term "Index" rather than "Table of Contents." The mismatched numbering appears to have occurred at the time the atlas was originally printed and bound. A miscalculation may have been made concerning the amount of information that would end up in the atlas. This again shows why using a reprint made under the supervision of noted historian William J. Peterson 1970s makes verifying completeness of an original First Edition 1875 the recommended technique. [7.]

The County Histories end on Page 424. It is followed by the Census of the State of Iowa 1875. Numbered statistical data pages culminate with page 482. Then the next page is 482 1/4 (recto) with the back side of the leaf numbered: 482 1/2. The next leaf's front side is 482 3/4. The backside of page 482 3/4 is not numbered.

The next section of the A.T. Andreas Atlas is "Patrons of the State of Iowa Atlas." I presume that people who pre-ordered and paid for the Atlas were listed in the atlas. [If anyone has information to confirm or deny this assumption, please let me know. Seeing some of that ephemera would be interesting.]

Front Page Patrons of A.T. Andreas 1875 Atlas

Pages 481 - 532 are a listing of Iowans, their stated profession, township they lived and when they arrived in the state.

Business Directory Patrons

of the State of Iowa Atlas 1875

Pages 533 -558

Iowa City Businesses in 1875

Allin, Wilson, and Smith were Iowa City Booksellers in 1875. Thankfully, the above pictured page is still in the book with its original-colored maps. Unfortunately, when the binding on old books becomes unstable, the individual pages occasionally enter the marketplace through various methods. I saved one such 1889 leaf from a travelling dealing that stopped in the store. The leaf now hangs on my bookstore wall. It is a list of "The Leading Business Houses of Iowa City" [of 1889]. The number of Iowa City bookstores had grown to four.

1889 Iowa City Booksellers

One unanswered question is how did businesses or patrons get listed in these books?

West Liberty, Iowa Businesses in 1875

Page 465 of the A.T. Andreas Atlas states Goshen Township had 1,235 people. Page 549 states Atalissa and the Goshen Township had two physician/surgeons. The town of West Liberty (933 people) did not have a physician listed in the directory in 1875.

=====

The rest of the atlas has numerous pages of census, farming and manufacturing data for the United States and counties of Iowa. One of those unnumbered pages had some interesting statistics about Iowa book making. The original A.T. Atlas says 14 book binderies were in the State of Iowa in 1870. They employed 77 people and used two steam engines. (53 male workers above 16 years of age, 10 females above 15 years of age, and 14 youths.) Capital was $72,600. Wages $25,860. Materials $42,503. Products: $104,300.

Today, the information in the back of A.T. Andreas 1875 Atlas remains fascinating to read in this modern age. The validity, accuracy and sources of the information are not always clear.

The last part of the book has the same type of print and border but lacks page numbers. The last, back page of the book a stamped page number: 590.

Back pages of the 1875 A.T. Andreas Iowa Atlas

The last table of information on page 590 consisted of military aged males in the year of 1870 shedding light of what might be available for the next war. The atlas was published a decade after the bloody U.S. Civil War of 1861-1865. Page 311 stated:

"At the beginning of the War the population of Iowa included about one hundred and fifty thousand men presumably liable to render military service. The state raised, for general service, thirty-nine regiments of infantry, nine regiments of cavalry, and four companies of artillery, composed of three-years' men. The original enlistments in these various organizations, including seventeen hundred and twenty-seven men raised by draft, numbered a little more than sixty-nine thousand. The re-enlistments, including upward of seven thousand veterans, numbered very nearly eight thousand. The number of men who, under special enlistments, and as militia took part at different times in the operations on the exposed borders of the state, was probably as many as five thousand."

A.T. Andreas opted not to list casualties of the Civil War. (Other books had covered that territory.)

Military Aged Males in Iowa, Year 1875

=====

The Map Mystery

of

West Liberty, Iowa

(Today: a small town in eastern Iowa,

south of Interstate 80,

on U.S. Hiway 6, and the

Iowa Interstate Railroad)

Where Was The

Wine and Beer Hall of H.F. Clasen,

West Liberty, Iowa

in 1875?

Page 52, A.T. Adreas 1875 Atlas

1875 Plan of West Liberty, Iowa (Muscatine County)

I grew up in West Liberty, Iowa and thought I knew all the legendary community watering holes. As I was checking each page of an original 1875 Iowa Atlas to ensure all the pages and maps were present, I noticed an interesting drawing on page 52. It was of a West Liberty Wine and Beer Hall that I never knew about.

Wine and Beer Hall of H.F. Clasen, West Liberty, Iowa (Year 1875) p. 52

The West Liberty map on page 204 did not list a property owned by H.F. Clasen. My initial scan of the Muscatine County map on page 203 did not reveal the answer.

Muscatine County Iowa, page 203

I snapped a digital photo of the 1875 Muscatine County Map and zoomed in on West Liberty. I compared the map to the plan of the town. [A trivial sidenote: As a teenager, I delivered the evening Muscatine Journal newspaper to the southside of the railroad tracks in West Liberty in the 1970s. My route was 7.2 miles every day.] The town had grown a considerable amount in a hundred years.

Plan of West Liberty compared to 1875 Muscatine County Atlas Map

Eventually, I found H.F. Clasen. I presume "x" marked the spot.

"X" marks the spot of H.F. Clasen?

I then used modern computer mapping technology overlayed onto the 1875 map to determine H.F. Clasen's Wine and Beer Hall of 1875.[8.]

Clasen's Wine & Beer Hall of 1875 was just south of the current gun club (shooting range) and north of the golf course.

Alcohol would become illegal in the United States in the years 1920-1933. I noted the seeds of the prohibition movement in a map on page 26. The way I read the map, somewhere around 1,400 to 2,000 people had died in southeastern Iowa from alcohol. (It did not state the time period.)

Deaths for Consumption

The back of the atlas listed General Statistics of Manufacturers by Industry. Iowa's liquor industry around the 1870s appears to have had:

• 4 x Liquor Distillers employed 43 people. Product value: $195,051.

• 101 x Malt Liquor Breweries employed 405 people. Product value: $992,848.

• 3 x Wineries employed 10 people. Product value: $3,350.

Summation

I was surprised at the accuracy of the 1875 map as it aligned with modern computerized maps. This atlas adventure illustrates why people are interested in, consult, and occasionally buy and collect various editions of the same book. Each type of media may present a clue and possible answer for someone with a question. An antiquarian (used) bookseller may expend a vast amount of time investigating a single book. They may need to compare it to other editions to understand its significance.

If you have information concerning the topics discussed in this essay, I welcome a phone call to the bookstore:

USA (319) 351-3166 As stated in the essay, I am particularly interested in the methods A.T. Andreas used to compile his information. Standford University Libraries stated Andreas printed nine editions of the 1875 atlas. I have only seen one version. Finding all of the versions and comparing them would be interesting.

You can also send me an email at: jeffrey@CaptainsBookShoppe.com

Signed,

Jeffrey A. Rothermel

Originally posted: July 20, 2026

Updated: July 26, 2026

===== Notes.

[1.] Andreas, A.T. (Alfred T.). ILLUSTRATION ATLAS OF THE STATE OF IOWA 1875. [facsimile reprint] Iowa City, IA: State Historical Society of Iowa, circa 1970. p. viii.

[2.]  Biography of William J. Peterson (1901-1989), PhD History University of Iowa 1930.  He was director of the State Historical Society at Iowa (SHSI) "By the time Petersen left SHSI in 1972, he had helped raise the number of members from 1,000 to nearly 11,000, which increased funding and allowed the SHSI to obtain additional documents and expand the collection of archives. Petersen also persuaded the state legislature to finance the construction of the Centennial Building at 402 Iowa Avenue in Iowa City as the new home for the State Historical Society of Iowa.  Petersen remained superintendent of the SHSI for the next twenty-five years."

Petersen, William “Steamboat Bill” – The History of History @ UIowa  (Accessed July 12, 2026).

Other resources: William J. Petersen – Iowa’s Steamboat Bill. | Our Iowa Heritage  (Accessed July 12, 2026)

[3.] A July 12th three-year query on eBay revealed the average SOLD PRICE for an 1875 Iowa Atlas was $157.70.

A review of what sold depicts the original atlas with the reprint (facsimile).

July 12, 2026 eBay "partial screenshot" of SOLD 1875 Iowa Atlases

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[eBay data] An original copy sold at a June 6, 2024 eBay auction for $150 plus $14.57 shipping. Another original sold on eBay on November 5, 2025 for $250 plus $11.79 for shipping. Another competed eBay sale occurred on January 6, 2025 for $255 plus $16.63 shipping. An atlas in poor condition sold on September 14, 2025 for $265 plus $22 shipping. [eBay data]

= = = = =

[Worthpoint Data] revealed 996 results for: "Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa 1875" (121 results over $50. Many results were individual color maps.) [Worthpoint.com data on July 20, 2026]

[4.] Stanford University Library. Atlas page from: A.T. Andreas' illustrated historical atlas of the State of Iowa. 1875. (7th Congressional District ed.) (Contents to) A.T. Andreas' illustrated historical atlas of the State of Iowa. 1875. (7th Congressional District ed.). (Published by the Andreas Atlas Co., Lakeside Building, Chicago, Ills. Engraved & printed by Chas. Shober & Co., Props. of Chicago Lithographing Co in SearchWorks catalog (Accessed July 26, 2026)

[5.] The American Heritage Dictionary. Second College Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982. p.463 "errata."

[6.] The Chicago Manual of Style The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers Fourteenth Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Part 1 Bookmaking, Index(es) are back matter. p. 5.

[7.] There is a mismatch of "front matter" page numbers. The index page number starts with Roman Numeral: iv. The index ends at page vii (recto). The reverse side of page vii (verso) is an unnumbered page entitled: "PREFACE." Prefaces are normally at the front of a book, so it does not appear as though the Index was originally at the back of the atlas and moved to the front, then rebound. The multi-page preface flows to the next page-leaf that is numbered page 7.

[8.] Iowa Geospatial Data Clearing House, Andreas Atlas, Muscatine County.

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