Loading map...

1943 Map of Elsie

Name: 1943 Topographic Map of Elsie
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1944
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1944

About this map

The Maple River winds through this central Michigan landscape, defining the rural character of Clinton, Gratiot, Saginaw, and Shiawassee counties. In the early 1940s, the region was a network of small agricultural hubs connected by the Ann Arbor and Grand Trunk railroads. The village of Elsie serves as a central point, surrounded by an exceptionally dense distribution of rural schoolhouses, including School No 5, Watson Sch, and Richards Sch.

Evidence of the early surveying of the state is preserved in the Michigan Meridian, which bisects the map vertically. Beyond the larger settlements of Ashley and Bannister, smaller locales such as Duplain, Carland, and Marion Springs appear as they functioned before the consolidation of rural infrastructure. The map also identifies local landmarks like the Town Hall in Fairfield and geographic features like Bradshaw Hill, providing a clear record of family-named landmarks and township boundaries during the war years.