1915 Map of Chester

About this map

The Mississippi River and its dynamic floodplain dominate this early 20th-century landscape, revealing a river system in transition between Illinois and Missouri. The map provides a rare look at Kaskaskia Island, an enclave of Illinois territory situated west of the main river channel following the historic 19th-century shift of the riverbed. Settlement patterns are tied closely to the river and the rail lines, with Chester perched on the eastern bluffs overlooking the Penitentiary and the expansive bottomlands.