1894 Map of Burlingame

About this map

Osage City and Burlingame serve as central nodes in this late nineteenth-century portrait of east-central Kansas, where a dense network of early rail lines defined the regional economy. The landscape is deeply carved by the Marais des Cygnes River and Wakarusa Creek, with settlements like Peterton and Scranton clustered along the steel of the Atchison Topeka And Santa Fe Railroad. This period shows a region transitioning into a mature agricultural and coal-mining hub, with distinct township boundaries such as Ridgeway and Dragoon overlaying the drainage basins of Salt Creek and Hundred and Ten Mile Creek. Genealogists will find interest in the clear layout of smaller, often vanished rural centers like Arvonia, Grand Haven, and Wilmington, which sat at the crossroads of early Shawnee, Wabaunsee, and Osage county borders. The intricate detail of the Missouri Pacific R. R. Colorado Short Line further illustrates the era's reliance on rail for western transit and local commerce.