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1894 Map of Fredonia

Name: 1894 Topographic Map of Fredonia
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1942
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1942

About this map

Fredonia and Yates Center serve as the primary hubs in this late nineteenth-century portrait of southeastern Kansas, where the prairie landscape is defined by the corridors of the Verdigris River and Fall River. Surveyed in 1884, the map illustrates a region in the midst of its rail-driven expansion, with the Missouri Kansas and Texas Railroad and the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad carving paths through the townships.

Smaller settlements and post offices like Twin Mounds, Guilford, and Coyville populate the rural landscape, often situated near the complex network of creeks such as Owl Creek and Cedar Creek. The reconnaissance methods used by topographer William J. Peters emphasize the early settlement patterns and township boundaries of Woodson and Wilson counties before later development altered these traditional pioneer communities.