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1949 Map of Cissna Park

Name: 1949 Topographic Map of Cissna Park
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1949
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1949

About this map

Cissna Park sits at the heart of this Iroquois County landscape, where the agricultural grid of East Central Illinois is punctuated by an extensive network of one-room schoolhouses and rural churches. The area is defined by the winding course of Pigeon Creek and Mud Creek, which break the geometric precision of the township lines. The settlement pattern of the late 1940s reveals a deeply local infrastructure, with dozens of named schools such as Possum Trot Sch and Pond Lily Sch serving the surrounding farmsteads.

Transportation and commerce are anchored by the Chicago and Eastern Illinois railroad, which links the grain-handling communities of Claytonville, Goodwine, and Hickman. Religious and community life is centered on landmarks like the Apostolic Christian Ch and the St Johns Ch. This survey, revised just after the war, captures the county at a moment when small-scale rural districts were still the primary social unit before mid-century consolidation changed the face of the Illinois prairie.