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1888 Map of Boonville

Name: 1888 Topographic Map of Boonville
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1933
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1933

About this map

The Missouri River forms the northern boundary of this central Missouri landscape, where the bustling river port of Boonville sits at a strategic crossing point. Surveyed in the 1880s, the map reveals a region transitioning from river-based commerce to a rail-centered economy. The M. K. and T. R. R. arcs through the northwest, while the Missouri Pacific Railroad cuts a straight east-west line through the southern half, anchoring towns like Tipton, California, and Clarksburg.

Smaller interior settlements such as Billingsville, Vermont, and Latham Store suggest the distribution of rural life before the era of improved roads. The topography is defined by intricate drainage systems, including the Lamine River and Moniteau Creek, which carved deep valleys into the surrounding plateaus. This early survey, conducted by H. L. Baldwin Jr. under the direction of Henry Gannett, provides a record of these landforms and original township divisions like Palestine and Prairie Home before later 20th-century development altered the rural footprint.