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1948 Map of Cuba

Name: 1948 Topographic Map of Cuba
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1948
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1948

About this map

Cuba serves as the focal point of this 1948 survey, where the St Louis San Francisco railroad cuts a diagonal path through the landscape. This corridor was the lifeblood of the Crawford County economy, linking the town's grid with smaller settlements like Fanning and Idlewild. The terrain is defined by a dense network of country schoolhouses and family-named cemeteries, indicating a deeply settled rural community where education and local history were centered around landmarks like Pleasant Ridge Sch and Iron Ridge Sch.

The southern reaches of the map are shaped by the winding course of the Meramec River and its numerous tributaries, including Brush Creek and Jake Prairie Creek. These waterways, alongside features like McDade Spring, provided the essential resources for the farms and homesteads scattered across the hills. Traces of early 20th-century life are preserved in the locations of the Zenser Cem and the Oak Shade Sch, offering clear evidence of the community's distribution before mid-century modernization.