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1943 Map of Fredonia

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

USGS Topo · Published 1943

About this map

The confluence of the Verdigris River and the Fall River anchors this 1940s landscape in Wilson County, where a dense network of early rural schools reveals the settlement patterns of eastern Kansas. Fredonia serves as the regional hub, connected to outlying communities like New Albany and Coyville by three major railroads: the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe, the St Louis and San Francisco, and the Missouri Pacific.

Detailed surveying by J.P. Rydeen and others captures a transition from river valley farming to upland prairie. For the local historian, the map preserves the locations of vanished educational and religious landmarks, including the St Francis Ch and over twenty district schools such as Forty Four Sch and Ten Penny Sch. Family names are etched into the terrain via features like Shafer Lake and Coon Creek, providing essential context for genealogical research in a period before mid-century consolidation altered the rural fabric.