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1930 Map of Benton Harbor

Name: 1930 Topographic Map of Benton Harbor
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1930
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1930

About this map

The St Joseph River and Pawpaw River converge at the thriving industrial and resort centers of Benton Harbor and St Joseph during the late 1920s. This survey, compiled in part from early Air Corps aerial photographs, details the unique religious and social landscape of the era, most notably the sprawling House of David colony near the city center. Along the Lake Michigan shoreline, recreational developments like Silver Beach, Edgewater, and Mizpah Park reflect the region's growing identity as a lakeside destination.

Inland, the landscape transitions to a dense network of rural school districts and family-named landmarks. Features such as the Fish Hatchery and numerous small schools like Boynton Sch and Sorters Sch speak to the organized community life of Berrien County. The infrastructure of the Pere Marquette and Michigan Central railroads, alongside the early Blue Star Memorial Highway, illustrates the vital transport corridors connecting these fruit-belt communities to the wider Midwest.