1916 Map of Good Hope

About this map

Agricultural development across the border of Warren and McDonough counties is captured in detail by surveyor C.W. Goodlove. The landscape is defined by a dense network of country schoolhouses, such as the colorfully named Mud College, Sugarloaf School, and Chattanooga School, reflecting the era's decentralized rural education system. The Chicago Burlington and Quincy railroad serves as a primary transit corridor, linking settlements like Bushnell and Good Hope to the wider region. In the northern reaches of the map, the terrain is etched by the intricate branches of Negro Creek and Swan Creek, where small-scale farming operations and family-held tracts like Farmers are clustered. The presence of the Presbyterian School and the Town Hall in Greenbush highlights the social and civic hubs that anchored these prairie communities during the early twentieth century.