Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Article

  When Jeff Kitsko wants to hit the road, he sits back and unfolds map.
  Kitsko, 21, of Latrobe, has been collecting maps since 1988.  He has an extensive collection of maps and related books that give him a unique look at the multitude of changes over the years not only near Pittsburgh, but across the country.
  According to Kitsko, the greatest changes have come about because of the interstate highway system, officially called the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.  When these modern controlled-access highways started to sprout in the late 1950s and early 1960s, well-traveled routes became little more than service roads, and the towns they went through were often by-passed by the new superhighways. These changes caused economic shifts that created population adjustments.
  Kitsko talked to staff writer Kelly D. Burgess about how he got interested in his map-collecting hobby and how the interstate highway system affected our region.

  This collection grew out of my fascination when I was a child with anything having to do with roads.  At first, I was interested mainly, as all little kids seem to be, in the machinery and construction equipment.  But unlike most kids, I began to wonder where those roads went.
  In 1988, I bought my first Rand McNally road atlas because I wanted to see how the roads all over the country tied in together and how they were different from what I saw here. After  that, my interest grew event to include other countries.   Then, about 1992, I started to wonder how the United States looked before I was born, and I started getting collecting older road maps. Now my collection numbers about 75 to 100 old maps.
  I am particularly interested in those maps that are sponsored by and distributed by the states to promote tourism, and those that were made by the oil companies.  These used to be handed out free at gas stations, but not many of the big oil companies make them any longer.  The few that do now charge for them.
  Most of the maps in my collection are ones I've found at garage sales and antique dealers.  I've also ordered some through online services and from the Road Map Collectors of America, an organization of which I'm a member.
  You can get something of a picture of a place from looking at a road map.  Of course, you can't judge terrain unless you're looking at a topographical map, but it gives you an idea of how an area is laid out.  It's funny though, because when you look at a map, you form your own picture of what that place looks like, and then when you actually get there, it's kind of strange.  It's like when you listen to the radio and get a mental picture of what the disk jockey looks like.  When you see him in person, he doesn't look at all like you imagined.

  For me, the most interesting aspect of older maps is to see how places have changed.  For example, Pennsylvania is much different now than it was before I was born.  Most of the changes in the topography are due to the coming of the interstate highways.  Because of that, many of the ways people get across the state have changed.
  Before the turnpike, Route 22 or Route 30 were the main east-to-west highways.  After the interstates started being used, it destroyed many existing national highways that were no longer used, such as U.S. Route 309 and U.S. Route 611.  Those roads went from Philadelphia through the Allentown-Bethlehem area to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  They were decommissioned by the federal government because people started to use the Turnpike's Northeast Extension instead.  Most of these highways are still in existence, but now they're just state highways, whereas they used to be U.S. routes, funded by the federal government.

  In many cases, the new interstates were built right on top of some of these U.S. routes.  A good example is U.S. Route 111, which went from Harrisburg to Baltimore.  It was decommissioned after the state department of highways, the forerunner of PennDOT, built Interstate 83 right on top of it.

  On a larger scale, that was what happened to the famous Route 66, which had five interstates built over it out west.
  There were a lot of maps made for guiding motorists around Pittsburgh, and some of the more interesting ones were made by Gulf Oil Co.  Gulf was always good to Pittsburgh, and I have a map from 1945 that shows a blast furnace on the cover and a picture of the Gulf Building.  There was no Parkway East or West in that one.  Another map I have from 1963, also from Gulf, has a picture showing what "the future Pittsburgh" would look like.  Surprisingly, it is an accurate image, showing the area around Point State Park, with a fountain and a nicely landscaped park area.  The buildings are different from what we have now.  I have another map, one from Esso dated 1960, that has a similar drawing and looks even closer to what Pittsburgh looks like now.

  Esso like to do pictorial covers on their maps, and I have one from about the mid-1960s that shows the proposed civic auditorium and civic center.  It looks the same as it does now, but it's hard to tell what some of the other buildings are. You can see the Cathedral of Learning in the distance, though.
  Road maps are a sign of how American life has changed in how we communicate and in our technology -- from the early days when horses pulled carts to smooth a path, to the giant paving machines we use today that can lay a road in no time. This shows up also in how the maps were made.  In the early days, they were hand drawn.  Rand McNally was the first to develop a full-color road atlas in 1960.  For a long time, they were made by a lithograph process.  Then in 1993, Rand McNally began making them by a digital process.  Of course, now you can go to the Internet and get custom-made maps by putting in your departure point and your destination.
  Maps still are a necessity, of course, but people don't travel by car the way they used to, and not much is free anymore. Even the few oil companies that still put out maps charge for them now.  But it's an interesting hobby and one that really tells a story of the past.

  As the automobile became more affordable, people were able to travel from place to place easily and relatively inexpensively.  With somewhere to go, they needed to know how to get there and often the place to stop for directions was the station with the Gulf or Esso pumps out front.

  As refueling stations gave way to service stations, the petroleum companies searched for a way to keep their customers coming back.  The attendants washed windows, put air in the tires, and checked under the hood.  Another service was free road maps.  These maps often were beautifully illustrated and not only gave directions, but information about the area around the roads.
  During the oil embargoes of the 1970s, when gas companies were forced to tighten their belts to keep costs down as much as possible, free maps were among the first things to go.  Now these vintage maps are a popular item for collectors, such as Jeff Kitsko, and give them a glimpse of a time when traveling was more of an adventure.
  Most of the old maps Kitsko owns come from yard sales, flea markets, and antique shops, but he also adds to his collection from fellow enthusiasts.  There are about 300 such map zealots who belong to an organization called the Road Map Collectors of America.
  Founded a few years ago by members in North America and Great Britian, the purpose of the group is to provide a network for others interested in collecting road maps.  The organization has an online and a printed newsletter, and holds an annual meeting in Chicago to give map enthusiasts a chance to visit in person.

  The group has undertaken the hugh task of trying to catalog all known official state and highway maps.  It also provides a wish list for members trying to find specific maps,  and there are stories about road maps and the petroleum companies that supplied them.

  Kitsko has not been to one of the nation conventions but finds the group useful because of the tips he picks up for preserving and displaying his maps -- and because it's a good way to fill the potholes in his collection.

  Cruise the Road Map Collectors of America Web sit at http://www.roadmaps.org/.
-By Kelly D. Burgess

-By Kelly D. Burgess
Post-Gazette Staff Writer

  Road maps aren't the only means by which Jeff Kitsko travels.  He also has created a site on the information superhighway called "Pennsylvania Highways."  It is an impressive collection of information about past and present highways.
  This hobby is another that has grown out of Kitsko's love of road maps.
  "There was a man on the Internet who had a Web page about Connecticut roads, and he put on his Web site a challenge to people around the country to make Web pages for their home states," Kitsko said.  "I took that challenge using my old road maps as history books.  All of the history you see on that site was gleaned from my old maps."
  Visitors to Kitsko's Web page can discover current road conditions, read why Overdrive Magazine has voted Pennsylvania's roads the worst in the country for seven years, find the location of a few pesky speed traps or just browse through some historical maps.
  Kitsko also has information of U.S. highways, carpooling and virtually anything else related to roads.
  The site won an award as "Pennsylvania Destination of the Day" for June 18, presented by Kessler Freedman, an online marketing service.  It is a fitting reward for a site that, after all, is about reaching your destination.