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1972 Map of Buffalo Center

Name: 1972 Topographic Map of Buffalo Center
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1975
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1975

About this map

Buffalo Center and Rake anchor this agricultural landscape along the northern border of Iowa in the early 1970s. The region is defined by a highly managed water system, where the Middle Branch Blue Earth River is supplemented by several drainage projects, including Drainage Ditch and Drainage Ditch No 7, to support the productive farmland of Lincoln and Buffalo townships. The Chicago Rock Island and Pacific railroad cuts diagonally across the terrain, serving as a vital artery for the transport of crops from this rural corner of Winnebago County.

Genealogists will find several burial sites preserved here, including the side-by-side West Lutheran Cem and East Lutheran Cem near Rake, as well as Graceland Cem and Olena Mound Cem closer to Buffalo Center. The presence of a Gravel Pit and a local Park in the town center illustrates the small-town infrastructure of the era, while the multi-county boundaries of Faribault, Kossuth, and Winnebago highlight the jurisdictional intersections of the borderlands.