electronics commercial transportation travel education founded 1856 1856 in chicago illinois united states founders william rand andrew mcnally headquarters skokie illinois united states key people stephen a. fletcher ceo products maps atlases software owner patriarch partners website www.randmcnally.com rand mcnally is an american technology and publishing company of that provides mapping software and hardware for the consumer electronics commercial transportation and education markets . the company is headquartered in the chicago suburb of skokie illinois with a distribution center in richmond kentucky . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 later history 2 ownership 3 facilities 4 presidents and ceos 5 acquisitions 6 street guide streetfinder products 7 see also 8 notes 9 references 10 external links history edit early history edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . november 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message title page of the 1879 business atlas in 1856 william rand opened a printing shop in chicago and two years later hired a newly arrived irish immigrant andrew mcnally to work in his shop . the shop did big business with the forerunner of the chicago tribune and in 1859 rand and mcnally were hired to run the tribune s entire printing operation . in 1868 the two men formally established rand mcnally & co. and bought the tribune s printing business . the company initially focused on printing tickets and timetables for chicago s booming railroad industry and the following year supplemented that business by publishing complete railroad guides . in 1870 the company expanded into printing business directories and an illustrated newspaper the people s weekly . according to company lore during the great chicago fire in 1871 rand mcnally quickly had two of the company s printing machines buried in a sandy beach of lake michigan and the company was up and running again only a few days later . the very first rand mcnally map created using a new cost saving wax engraving method appeared in the december 1872 edition of its railroad guide . rand mcnally became an incorporated business in 1873 with rand as its president and mcnally as vice president . the business atlas containing maps and data pertinent to business planning was first published in 1876 . the atlas is still updated today now titled the commercial atlas & marketing guide . the trade book department was established in 1877 publishing such titles as the locust plague in the united states . rand mcnally began publishing educational maps in 1880 with its first line of maps globes and geography textbooks soon followed by a world atlas . 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 . also in 1894 the company opened an office in new york city headed by caleb s. hammond who later started his own map company c. s. hammond & co. . rand mcnally published its first road map the new automobile road map of new york city & vicinity in 1904 . in 1910 the company acquired the line of photo auto guides from g.s. chapin which provided photographs of routes and intersections with directions . andrew mcnally ii son of frederick mcnally personally took photos on his honeymoon for the chicago to milwaukee edition . the company continued to expand its book publishing business with best selling children s books such as the real mother goose in 1916 and kon tiki in 1950 . a rand mcnally map appended to the 1914 edition of the new student s reference work . rand mcnally was the first major map publisher to embrace a system of numbered highways . one of its cartographers john brink invented a system that was first published in 1917 on a map of peoria illinois . in addition to creating maps with numbered roads rand mcnally also erected many of the actual roadside highway signs . this system was subsequently adopted by state and federal highway authorities . 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 . by 1930 rand mcnally had two major road map competitors general drafting and gousha the latter of which was founded by a former rand mcnally sales representative . the rand mcnally auto chum later to become the ubiquitous rand mcnally road atlas debuted in 1924 . the first full color edition was published in 1960 and in 1993 it became fully digitized . later history edit the goode s school atlas named for its first editor dr. j. paul goode was published in 1923 . it became a standard text for high school and college geography curricula . later retitled goode s world atlas it is now in its 22nd edition . the first rand mcnally travel store was opened in new york city in 1937 . in the 1990s it became a chain with 29 locations but by 2005 all were closed as a cost saving measure . rand mcnally moved its headquarters from chicago to suburban skokie illinois in 1952 . the company opened its versailles kentucky book publishing plant in 1962 with 300 000 square feet 28 000 m2 and 23 employees . in 1994 the plant was the first to implement a new kodak computer to plate printing system . 1 when the plant was sold in 1997 it was over 1 000 000 square feet 93 000 m2 and employed 1 255 people . in 1961 because the company was not satisfied with the ability of existing map projections to create intuitive depictions of the entire world they commissioned dr. arthur h. robinson to develop what became known as the robinson projection which became very popular and was used extensively for constructing maps of the entire world . 2 rand mcnally began creating maps digitally in 1982 . in 1989 rand mcnally donated its extensive collection of maps to the newberry library . now in possession of gousha s archives as well rand mcnally donated that map archive to the newberry in late 2002 . 3 with a string of acquisitions and growth throughout the 1980s and 1990s rand mcnally employed over 4 000 people in four business groups . 4 the company had been majority owned by the mcnally family since 1899 but by 1997 the family had decided to divest its interest . ownership edit rand mcnally s new corporate headquarters in skokie illinois rand mcnally has always been a privately held or pink sheet company with stock held by very few parties and very thinly traded . 5 when rand retired in 1899 he sold his shares in the company to mcnally and the other company officers . the mcnally family was the majority owner for nearly 100 years from 1899 until 1997 at which time the family decided to divest its majority stake . the company was sold piecemeal ; in january 1997 the company announced it was selling its book services group which employed 1 700 people in versailles kentucky and taunton massachusetts to world color press for 155 million . 6 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 . 7 8 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 . 9 the sole remaining group publishing represented the core mapmaking business of the company . in november 1997 the mcnally family completed its divestiture by selling its majority ownership to aea investors for a reported 500 million . 10 much of the purchase price was leveraged meaning the company took on significant debt hedging on future earnings . 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 . however the company fell behind the technology curve of upstarts such as mapquest and fell further into debt . 11 aea s stake in the company was acquired by leonard green & partners through a prepackaged chapter 11 restructuring deal on january 15 2003 . 10 in december 2007 patriarch partners which had previously been a minority owner bought shares owned by leonard green and other minority owners to become the sole owner of rand mcnally . facilities edit rand mcnally s former corporate headquarters in skokie . the building was sold to ida crown jewish academy . rand mcnally had been headquartered in chicago since its inception . its 1899 headquarters on west adams street was the world s first all steel framed skyscraper . by the 1950s its chicago area workforce had grown to over 1 000 employees and larger facilities were needed . 12 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 13 14 and the approximately 200 current employees relocated in january 2009 to an office building near skokie s old orchard mall . 15 16 the irvine california facilities from the acquisition of thomas bros. maps in 1997 closed in 2010 . 17 rand mcnally sold its canadian subsidiary located in markham ontario on 30 june 2008 to the newly formed canadian cartographics corporation . 18 presidents and ceos edit william rand founded his print shop in 1856 and rand mcnally & co. was formally established in 1868 . the company was incorporated in 1873 with rand as the first president and mcnally vice president . when rand retired in 1899 andrew mcnally assumed the role of president until his death in 1904 . andrew s son frederick mcnally became president upon his father s death just as the age of the automobile was beginning . when frederick mcnally died in 1907 his sister s husband harry beach clow became president . andrew mcnally ii took over in 1933 . he and his heirs andrew mcnally iii and iv successively served as president until 1993 . 1873 1899 william rand 1899 1904 andrew mcnally 1904 1907 frederick mcnally andrew s son 1907 1933 harry beach clow andrew s son in law 19 1933 1948 andrew mcnally ii andrew s grandson 1948 1974 andrew mcnally iii andrew s great grandson 1974 1993 andrew mcnally iv andrew s great great grandson 1993 1997 john s. bakalar former rand mcnally cfo 20 1997 1999 henry j. feinberg former head of rand mcnally publishing group 21 1999 2000 richard j. davis former executive at rr donnelley and geosystems forerunners of mapquest 22 2000 2001 norman e. wells jr. former rand mcnally coo 23 2001 2003 michael hehir former head of mcgraw hill ventures 24 2003 2008 robert s. apatoff former head of allstate marketing 25 26 2008 2009 andrzej wrobel patriarch partners it platform managing director 16 2009 nov 2013 dave muscatel dec 2013 present stephen fletcher acquisitions edit rand mcnally has made many acquisitions over the years to consolidate the crowded map publishing industry or to extend its capabilities in new markets . 1980 transportation data management tdm makers of transportation mileage and routing software that continues to be used for rand s commercial trucking products . 27 1984 denoyer geppert assets of the school