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1972 Map of Long Branch

Name: 1972 Topographic Map of Long Branch
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1972
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1972

About this map

Fitzsimons General Hospital and its surrounding U S Military Reservation dominate the southern portion of this landscape, situated just east of the growing Aurora city limits. This 1938 survey, published in the late 1940s, reveals a transitional environment where agricultural irrigation infrastructure like the O'Brien Ditch and the Highline Canal meet expanding rail and military footprints. The Union Pacific and Burlington and Quincy railroads cross the territory, connecting established stops like Sable and Irondale.

Rural educational hubs such as Rose Hill Sch and Long Branch Sch serve a community defined by its water management, seen in the network of lateral canals feeding into Derby Lake and Ladora Lake. These features, along with the Blackman Lake Site and Bluff Lake, suggest a land being actively reshaped by the Denver Board of Water Commissioners to support both local farming and the needs of a maturing suburban fringe.