Rand McNally is an American technology and publishing company that provides mapping software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation, and education markets.

The first Rand McNally map, created using a new cost-saving wax engraving method, appeared in the December 1872 edition of its Railroad Guide.

The company began publishing general literature in 1884 with its first title, The Secret of Success, and the Textbook department was established in 1894 with The Rand McNally Primary School Geography.

In addition to creating maps with numbered roads, Rand McNally also erected many of the actual roadside highway signs.

The oil industry quickly developed an interest in road maps, enticing Americans to explore and consume more gasoline.

In 1920, Rand McNally began publishing road maps for the Gulf Oil Company, to be freely distributed at its service stations.

However they still have niche uses, particularly in the performance of experimental music pieces that call for them, such as Vision (1959) and Poem (1960) by La Monte Young.

In late September 2018, Rand McNally moved its headquarters back to Chicago, after more than 60 years in suburban Skokie, Illinois.

[8] In February 1997, the DocuSystems Group, which printed airline tickets and luggage tags at its Nashville facility, was sold to Code Hennessy & Simmons, a Chicago-based private equity firm.

[9][10] In April 1997, the Media Services Group, which employed 350 people with offices in Nashville, Tennessee; Fremont, California; Shannon, Ireland; and the Asia-Pacific region, was sold to McQueen Ltd., a Scottish software company.

In November 1997, the McNally family completed its divestiture by selling its majority ownership to AEA Investors for a reported $500 million.

AEA intended to capitalize on Rand McNally's brand recognition by bringing digital mapping to the masses and attracting public investors during the dot-com boom.

[13] AEA's stake in the company was acquired by Leonard Green & Partners through a prepackaged Chapter 11 restructuring deal on January 15, 2003.

[15] In 1952, it opened a new 283,008 sq ft (26,292 m2) building in suburban Skokie, bringing corporate offices, printing, and distribution operations under one roof.

Over the ensuing decades, however, printing and distribution operations relocated, eventually resulting in the underutilization of the aging Skokie building.

It was sold in February 2008 to Ida Crown Jewish Academy for $11 million,[16][17] and the approximately 200 current employees relocated in January 2009 to an office building near Skokie's Old Orchard Mall.

[18][19] As of April 26, 2024 Rand McNally no longer has a physical address in the Chicagoland area after a round of layoffs following a merger with Safety Direct.

Rand McNally has made many acquisitions over the years to consolidate the crowded map publishing industry or to extend its capabilities in new markets.