Loading map...

1920 Map of Kemp

Name: 1920 Topographic Map of Kemp
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1920
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1920

About this map

Kemp and Mabank P.O. anchor this 1920 survey of the tri-county borderlands where Kaufman, Van Zandt, and Henderson counties meet. The landscape is defined by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, which dictates the placement of nearly every major settlement. Many of these locations are noted by their post office designations, such as Ansley (Gossett) and Pauline, indicating a period when these small rural hubs were the primary links for communication and commerce.

Numerous schoolhouses, labeled as S.H., are scattered across the terrain near drainages like Cedar Creek and Kings Creek. These small institutions, along with localities like Prairieville and Payne Springs, reflect a dispersed agricultural society before the widespread consolidation of the mid-twentieth century. The presence of Bois D'Arc Lake in the southwest and the shifting boundary lines near Aley show a region transitioning from raw frontier toward more formal administrative and industrial organization.