1893 Map of Hennepin

About this map

Princeton serves as a major rail and commercial hub in the late nineteenth century, situated at the intersection of the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad and a network of county roads. The landscape is defined by the deeply incised valleys of Big Bureau Creek and its many tributaries, which carve through the high prairie ground toward the wide bottomlands of the Illinois River. To the southeast, the village of Hennepin overlooks the river's bend, while the industrial and transportation importance of the corridor is signaled by the convergence of rails at Bureau Junction. Small coal and agricultural settlements like Seatonville, Depue, and Malden are scattered across the townships, illustrating the transition from open farming country to the river-based commerce of Lake Depue.