Locally made maps now featured in premier UWM collection

Heather Graves

Staff

August 23, 2023

GREEN BAY – Julius (J.J.) Wagner said the story behind Bay Maps, LLC – a small cartography business based in Green Bay – began with a love of local heritage.

“I enjoyed doing local history research – I was especially interested in the Peshtigo Fire,” Wagner said. “I needed a map to plot out some of the information I was collecting. And so I was searching around for somebody to make a custom map, and I couldn’t find anybody.”

Wagner said this led to him teaching himself how to make a custom map.

“I’m a self-taught cartographer,” he said. “Most people go to school for cartography – I researched and taught myself.”

Wagner said he started off making maps for himself as a hobby, before deciding to start Bay Maps, LLC in early 2021.

“I focus a lot on artistic type maps people would put up on their walls,” he said. “I try to have a balance – so, it’s both informative and artistic.”

Wagner said what makes his maps unique is he can make them however he wants.

“I have a lot of liberty in being able to create whatever types of maps I want,” he said.

Those who create maps for government entities, such as municipalities, Wagner said, have to adhere to “strict rules when it comes to colors, line thickness, font styles, etc.”

“What I do, I get to have fun with it,” he said. “I play around with all kinds of stuff to see what looks cool.”

Putting Bay Maps on the map
Recently, three original map designs created by Wagner were added to the permanent collection at the American Geographical Society Library (AGSL), which is located within the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library.

Wagner said the AGSL’s collection is widely considered one of the premier collections of its kind in North America.

“I am honored to have my maps included in the amazing collection at the AGSL,” he said. “Their presence at the library will help to preserve the history of Northeastern Wisconsin.”

It’s something Wagner said he never imagined would happen.

“The maps are always going to be there, so that’s significant,” he said. “That’s a part of our history, part of our heritage. I think it’s especially important to know when you make maps and stuff like that, that it is preserved because it’s part of our perspective of our history and culture today – knowing that it will be preserved is neat.”

The maps Wagner designed and created that will be added to the collection depict the Fox River Trail, the Historic Fox Locks and the Great Fire of 1871.

This historic Fox Locks map is one of three maps created by Julius Wagner that has been added to the American Geographical Society Library’s permanent collection. Submitted Photo

“It is a 16-by-20-inch map, and that was the map that started the business,” he said. “One of the things we did unique with that one is it shows the scale of the Chicago Fire in relation to the Peshtigo Fire – which happened that exact same day in October 1871.”

Wagner said many people remember the Chicago Fire of 1871, but not as many remember the one in Peshtigo.

“It’s the only map I know of that shows that comparison,” he said.

Preserving history, heritage
As a small, veteran-owned and -operated business, Wagner said his goal with Bay Maps is to create “beautiful map goods that honor home, heritage and the wonder of the natural world.”

He said the goal is not mass production, but to create maps that are both accurate and beautiful.

“We are proud to make and print all of our map goods in Green Bay,” he said.

Though map-making today greatly differs from the hand-drawn maps of old, Wagner said it remains labor-intensive and skilled work. 

“People don’t make maps by hand anymore – it’s a lost art,” he said. “Today, everything is done with GIS – geographic information software. There’s a lot of different types of software out there, but that’s what people, like me, use to make maps today.”

The process itself, Wagner said, is a multi-step process. 

“It begins with a lot of research and information collecting,” he said. “Everything – like roads, rivers, is brought in separately in different layers – you could be working with 10 to 20 different layers.”

The time it takes to create a map, Wagner said, depends on the map being created.

“That is a tough one to predict because it depends on how many layers you bring in and the styling,” he said. “It can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.”

After he creates a map, Wagner said it is heavily critiqued by himself and his wife Sara.

“I spend a lot of time with my wife going over things making sure the spelling is correct, the font looks good – it will go through a process and undergo a lot of changes before I end up settling on something I like.”

Wagner said he mostly creates maps that are then available for purchase by the public, but he does custom projects as well.

“I have an inventory of maps… and people typically purchase maps out of there,” he said. “But, I do get quite a few different customer orders, as well. I had a guy who wanted a custom hunting map that was magnetic and a dry-erase board.”

Bay Maps products, Wagner said, are currently available at a variety of retailers throughout Northeast Wisconsin, including: Front Porch Market (Coleman), Heritage Hill State Historical Park (Green Bay), LoCo Wisco (Green Bay), Pine River Dairy (Manitowoc), Schroder’s Department Store (Two Rivers), Seroogy’s Chocolates (De Pere and Ashwaubenon), Smithmaker Artisan Company (Green Bay and Sturgeon Bay), The Shop on Main (Oconto) and Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc).

Wagner said Bay Maps can also be found at the Sturgeon Bay Farmers Market each Saturday through mid-October.

For more information on Bay Maps, visit baymapshop.com.