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1910 Map of Leavenworth

Name: 1910 Topographic Map of Leavenworth
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1932
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1932

About this map

Leavenworth and Platte City anchor this early 20th-century landscape where the Missouri River snakes between Kansas and Missouri, dividing a region defined by military and institutional presence. The vast Fort Leavenworth Military Reservation dominates the western riverbank, complemented by the U S Penitentiary Reserve and the Kansas State Penitentiary further south near Lansing. These large federal and state holdings established a unique land-use pattern that preserved significant open space while the surrounding prairie was subdivided into a dense network of townships like Kickapoo and Delaware.

Transportation is remarkably complex here, with nearly a dozen rail lines including the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific RR and the Kansas City Leavenworth and Western Electric RR converging on the river. Geologists and local historians can trace the intricate sloughs and islands of the floodplain, such as Kickapoo Island and Stigers Island, alongside numerous rural schoolhouses like Fancy Bottoms School and Swamp School that once served the scattered farming communities.