1917 Map of Coulterville

About this map

Coulterville and Sparta serve as the primary hubs of this Southern Illinois landscape during a period of significant agricultural and industrial expansion. The territory is crisscrossed by a dense network of competing rail lines, including the Illinois Central, Mobile and Ohio, and the Illinois Southern, which facilitated the movement of goods through the Grande Cote Prairie. This survey captures a moment when rural life centered around a remarkable density of neighborhood schoolhouses, such as Lost Prairie School, Gravel Hill School, and Scotland School, most of which were positioned within walking distance of the era’s dispersed farmsteads. The drainage systems of the Marys River and Galum Creek provide the topographic structure for the surrounding townships of Lively Grove and Marissa, illustrating how early 20th-century settlement patterns were dictated by both the fertile prairie land and the strategic placement of railroad junctions.