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1958 Map of Kerkhoven SW

Name: 1958 Topographic Map of Kerkhoven SW
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1959
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1959

About this map

Louriston and Crate townships define the agricultural landscape of this Chippewa County region during the late 1950s. The map reveals a highly structured rural society organized around section lines, with social life anchored by institutions like Buffalo Lake Ch, Zion Ch, and the Township Cem. Education in this period was still localized, as evidenced by the presence of School No 298 and School No 307, marking the final era of such distributed rural schoolhouses before widespread consolidation.

Water features such as Shakopee Lake and Buffalo Lake break up the geometric grid of farmsteads. Numerous gravel pits scattered throughout the townships indicate the local importance of aggregate extraction for road building. This survey provides a precise look at the mid-century infrastructure of the Minnesota prairie, recording the exact placement of individual homes and barns that supported the region's farming economy.