Mid-West Map Company (c. 1925 - 1935)

Mid-West Map Company (c. 1925 - 1935) was an Aurora, Missouri-based company that issued early highway maps to travelers for free, covering their costs and earning a profit through sponsorship and advertisements for gas stations, motels, and other businesses along highway routes. Little is known about the company's history and its maps were undated, making an exact date range of its existence difficult to establish, but the company's efforts resulted in the first comprehensive set of highway maps for the entire country. Its model of providing free highway maps to travelers would become a standard practice for decades, especially by competing gas station chains.