1971 Map of Boyleston

About this map

Boyleston and its surrounding countryside are defined by the complex water management of the Southern Illinois prairie, where the Southern railroad tracks run parallel to local creeks. The landscape is a mix of agricultural fields and structured drainage, most notably the Eagle Slough Drainage Ditch and the Drainage Ditch network that directs water toward the Skillet Fork. This 1970s survey captures the region just as modern infrastructure was expanding, indicated by a prominent highway section labeled Under Construction near the Lagoon. Local life and genealogy are anchored by rural institutions like Richland Ch, Full Gospel Ch, and the Ellis Mound Ch school site. Small family burial grounds, including Clark Cem and Hall Cem, sit amidst the high ground of Big Mound and the eastern Ridge, offering a precise record of established settlement patterns before the further consolidation of 20th-century farming.