1938 Map of Alma

About this map

The Pine River anchors this 1930s landscape of Gratiot County, flowing through the primary hubs of Alma and St Louis. This period finds the region defined by its agricultural grid and an exceptionally dense network of rural one-room schoolhouses, such as Cohoon Sch, Hanley Sch, and Welling Sch, spaced for walking distances before the era of school consolidation. The industrial and transit pulse is set by the intersecting lines of the Pere Marquette and Ann Arbor railroads, which facilitated the movement of goods between these mid-Michigan towns.