William Rand

Who was William Rand?

William H. Rand was born in Quincy, Massachusetts. As a young man, he was an apprentice at his brothers' print shop in Boston. He was enticed west in September, 1849, by the California Gold Rush. He settled in Los Angeles and co-founded the state's first newspaper, the Los Angeles Star. In 1856, he returned to Boston for a short time before moving to Chicago and opening a print shop in June of that year. Two years later he hired an Irish immigrant, Andrew McNally, to work in his shop for $9 per week. The two formally established Rand, McNally & Co. in 1868 and became one of the biggest and best-known map publishers in history. Rand retired as president of Rand McNally in 1899 and returned to his boyhood home of East Milton, Massachusetts. He died in New Canaan, Connecticut at his daughter's home after being ill for some time.