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1956 Map of Cadillac North

Name: 1956 Topographic Map of Cadillac North
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1979
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1979

About this map

The Manistee River defines the northern reaches of this mid-century survey, winding through the expansive Fife Lake State Forest and Houghton Lake State Forest. Centered on the town of Manton, the landscape is a mosaic of small rural schools like Gentle Sch and Shippy Sch, reflecting a distributed community structure that was already shifting as evidenced by the Pleasant Hill Sch (Abandoned). In the south, the city of Cadillac serves as a regional hub, anchored by the Cadillac Airport and the Pennsylvania railroad line.

Local history is deeply etched into the township grids of Cedar Creek and Caldwell, where sites like Old Jennings Cem and New Jennings Cem near Crooked Lake mark the passage of generations. The map detail highlights the importance of water and transport, from the Ann Arbor Trail to the numerous lakes including Lake Missaukee and Billings Lake. This 1956 study captures the county as a working landscape of forests, small farms, and growing civic infrastructure.