1891 Map of Cedar Rapids

About this map

The Cedar River and Iowa River systems dominate the landscape of Linn and Johnson counties in this late-19th-century survey. Cedar Rapids appears as a burgeoning regional hub, its grid expanding at the confluence of several major rail lines including the Chicago and North Western R. R. and the Burlington Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad. The map captures the era of concentrated rail-side development, highlighting smaller agricultural and post-office junctions like Western, Ely, and Shueyville. Away from the urbanizing core, the terrain is marked by intricate drainage patterns along Prairie Creek and Mill Creek, where the transition from river bottomlands to uplands defined early township boundaries and farming tracts. This reconnaissance work by topographer W.J. Peters documents the foundational infrastructure of eastern Iowa before the automotive era reshaped the countryside.