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1909 Map of Charleston

Name: 1909 Topographic Map of Charleston
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1914
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1914

About this map

Charleston and its surrounding industrial riverfront are captured during a period of significant growth along the Kanawha River. The convergence of the Elk River and the Kanawha serves as the geographic anchor for the region, where the Kanawha and Michigan and Chesapeake and Ohio railroads parallel the water, facilitating the area's coal and manufacturing economy. Small mining and post office hubs like Mason Sta Graham Mines PO and Garnet PO Malden Sta show the early development of outlying communities such as South Charleston and Malden.

Local history is preserved in the detailed mapping of rural infrastructure, including many named schoolhouses like Morning Star School and Oak Hill School. The landscape is a complex network of named forks and branches, such as Edens Fork and Campbell Creek, which dictated early settlement patterns. Noteworthy landmarks like Michigan Lock 6 near Blaine Island highlight the importance of river navigation and engineering in West Virginia’s early twentieth-century development.