1936 Map of Barry

About this map

The Mississippi River forms a sprawling network of chutes, sloughs, and islands along the border of Illinois and Missouri in the 1930s. The landscape is defined by the massive drainage infrastructure of the Sny Slough and Walnut Creek Ditch, which redirect water through the low-lying bottoms of Cincinnati and Pleasant Vale. While the river handles heavy traffic with features like the Ashburn Bridge and U S Gage, the eastern uplands are dotted with a dense system of rural country schools including Elm Grove Sch and Guss Sch. Small settlements such as New Canton and Kinderhook serve as rail hubs along the Wabash Railroad and Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad, supporting a landscape that blends river-based commerce with ridge-top farming and family cemeteries like Brown Cem and Hornback Cem.