1891 Map of Anthony

About this map

Anthony and Harper anchor this late nineteenth-century landscape, a period when the grid of Kansas townships was being actively stitched together by competing rail lines. The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and the Missouri Pacific Railroad define the movement of goods and people between frontier settlements like Attica, Hazelton, and New Kiowa. Along the Chikaskia River and the numerous branches of Bluff Creek, the terrain transitions from the valley flats to prominent high points like Pilot Knob. This survey captures the region just before the turn of the century, showing established towns such as Nashville, Spivey, and Sharon as they developed along the steel arteries. Notable watercourses like the Medicine Lodge River and Sandy Creek indicate the drainage patterns that influenced early town site selection and agricultural development during this era of rapid prairie settlement.