1931 Map of Bangor

About this map

The Pere Marquette railroad anchors the local economy of this Van Buren County landscape, connecting agricultural shipping points like Bangor and Grand Junction. Inland from the Lake Michigan shoreline at Glenn Shores, the terrain is defined by a dense network of early 20th-century rural schools such as Hawkhead and Hadaway Sch, serving a community of farmsteads and small fruit-growing settlements. The Michigan Base Line divides the territory, while the Black River and its Middle Fork wind through townships like Casco and Geneva. A high concentration of small kettle lakes, including Saddle Lake and Osterhout Lake, provided localized recreational hubs alongside historic landmarks like Kibbie Chapel and the distinctively named Gingerbread Ch. Local surveyors C.P.McKinley and R.A.Kiger mapped this area just before the widespread modernization of the road network, preserving the layout of crossroads like Chambers Corner and Arlington Center.