1979 Map of Chesterfield

About this map

Missouri River meanders through the heart of this 1979 orthophotoquad, serving as a stark dividing line between the developing suburban landscapes and the expansive agricultural floodplains. To the south, the community of Chesterfield and the residential corridors around Bellefontaine show the distinct patterns of late-twentieth-century growth, with winding street networks and expanding infrastructure. In contrast, the northern bank reveals the intricate field patterns of the Missouri bottomlands near Howell and Harvester. This orthophoto provides a unique visual perspective, blending the precision of a topographic survey with the raw detail of aerial imagery, capturing the exact state of land use, forest cover, and river morphology at the end of the 1970s. It is particularly useful for observing how development was beginning to encroach upon the traditional rural character of the St. Louis metropolitan fringe.