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1952 Map of Dearborn

Name: 1952 Topographic Map of Dearborn
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1954
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1954

About this map

Greenfield Village and the massive industrial infrastructure of the Rouge River basin dominate this mid-century look at the American automotive heartland. The landscape is a dense network of major transportation corridors, including the Edsel Ford Expressway and multiple railroad lines like the New York Central RR and Wabash RR. The map captures the height of the industrial era, showing a landscape tightly integrated with the car industry, from the Ford Rotunda to the Proving Ground south of the Lower Rouge River.

Beyond the factories, the sheet provides a detailed view of the growing residential and civic life in Dearborn and western Detroit. Scores of parochial and public schools, such as Fordson High Sch and St Alphonsus Sch, are mapped alongside extensive park systems like Patton Memorial Park. The southern portion reflects the expanding postwar suburbs of Allen Park and Lincoln Park, characterized by the transformation of agricultural drains like Allen Drain into suburban boundaries.