1940 Ford Hopkins Tea Room Pictorial Map of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin

This is a 1940 Ford Hopkins pictorial map of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, along with part of Indiana. The map is the cover of a Ford Hopkins Drug Store and Tea Room food menu and highlights Ford Hopkins locations throughout the five states. Black boxes mark these cities and towns and include a brief description of each. Mankato, Minnesota, for instance, is said to be an 'Ideal Haunt for Sportsmen (Wild Fowl)' and a hunter with a shotgun sits nearby aiming at a flying duck. Iowa City, Iowa is known simply as the 'home of University of Iowa'. The two other universities, the University of Illinois (in Urbana Champaign, Illinois) and Purdue University (in Lafayette Indiana, where this menu is from), are marked by football stadiums as well. Purdue even has a boilermaker next to their stadium. Chicago, the home of the Ford-Hopkins Company, is identified by its skyline. Pictorial vignettes of farmers, livestock, and crops (mostly corn but some wheat) decorate the map.

Dating this Map

While we do not know when the original art was created, we know that this menu was used on Thursday, December 19, 1940, in Lafayette, Indiana, because of inserts formerly stapled to the inside. Based on the number of former staples in the menu, it is likely that it circulated in the restaurant for a while and was taken home by one of the customers that night, perhaps because they liked the map!

The Ford-Hopkins Company

The Ford Hopkins Company was based in Chicago, Illinois, and operated a chain of drug stores and tea rooms. There were thirty-four stores operating when the Lafayette, Indiana location opened on December 6, 1935.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by an unknown artist to serve as the cover for Ford Hopkins Drug Store and Tea Room food menus. This piece is not cataloged in OCLC, and we have found only a handful of other instances when it has appeared on the private market.