1964 Map of Burlington

About this map

The Mississippi River dominates this mid-1960s landscape, serving as a massive natural boundary between Iowa and Illinois. On the western bank, the city of Burlington shows a dense urban core supported by a robust educational and civic infrastructure, including Burlington Community College, Jefferson High School, and several neighborhood institutions like Sunnyside School and Salter School. The river itself is a complex network of chutes, sloughs, and bars, with large landmasses such as Otter Island and Burlington Island creating a braided waterway. Across the river in Illinois, the landscape shifts abruptly to the low-lying wetlands of the Shokokun and Carman districts. This area is defined by drainage features like the Diversion Ditch and numerous backwater lakes, including Carthage Lake and Orchard City Lake, illustrating the ongoing efforts to manage the river's floodplain for agricultural and navigational use.