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1953 Map of Eliza

Name: 1953 Topographic Map of Eliza
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1987
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1987

About this map

The rolling agricultural landscape of Drury and Buffalo Prairie townships defines this 1953 survey of the borderlands between Rock Island and Mercer counties. The settlement pattern is characterized by a dense network of local civic institutions, reflecting a mid-century rural society still anchored by one-room schools and community meeting places. Small nodes of activity like Eliza and Petersville are surrounded by landmarks such as Point Pleasant School and Hazel Dell School, which served the dispersed farmsteads of the era.

Waterways like Copperas Creek and Eliza Creek carve deep through the terrain, with several small cemeteries, including Miller Cemetery and Eliza Creek Cemetery, situated on the higher ground overlooking these drainages. The map captures a moment before modern school consolidation and rural depopulation, preserving the locations of numerous family-named landmarks and local churches like Wrayville Church and Union Church.