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1918 Map of Lowell

Name: 1918 Topographic Map of Lowell
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1918
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1918

About this map

The Grand River and its major tributaries, the Flat River and Thornapple River, dictate the geography of this West Michigan region during the early twentieth century. The village of Lowell serves as a central hub where the Grand Trunk Railway follows the river valley, while the Pere Marquette Railroad and Michigan Central Railroad create a dense network of transit for agricultural settlements like Alto, McCord, and Freeport.

One-room schoolhouses are exceptionally dense across the landscape, including the Little Brick School, McPherson School, and dozens of numbered district schools like School No 10. These institutions, alongside small communities such as Fallassburg and Alaska, reflect the rural social structure of Kent County and neighboring Ionia and Barry counties before modern consolidation. Numerous small lakes, including Pratt Lake and Camp Lake, dot the interior, punctuating the farmsteads and timbered tracts of the era.