1900 Map of Highwood

About this map

Lake Michigan defines the eastern edge of this northern Illinois landscape at the close of the 19th century, where deep ravines cut through the bluffs to meet the shoreline. The region shows a transition from the established coastal communities of Highland Park and Glencoe to the agricultural prairie and emerging rail towns further inland. The Desplaines River flows southward through the center of the sheet, paralleled by a dense network of transit lines including the Chicago and Northwestern R.R. and the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul R.R. which fueled suburban growth. Geographically significant points like Fort Sheridan and the military outpost at Highwood sit prominently on the lakefront, while smaller inland hubs such as Shermerville and Aptakisic mark a rural era before mid-century development. This survey reveals the early spatial organization of townships like Deerfield and Northfield before they were fully absorbed into the suburban sprawl of the twentieth century.