Loading map...

1955 Map of Manhattan

Name: 1955 Topographic Map of Manhattan
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1980
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1980

About this map

The Kansas River forms the heart of this region, where the Republican River and Smoky Hill River converge at Junction City. This 1969 revision documents the landscape shortly after the completion of major water projects, notably the Tuttle Creek Lake on the Big Blue River and Milford Reservoir on the Republican. These reservoirs transformed the drainage basins that define the edges of the Flint Hills and Smoky Hills.

A dense railroad network of the Union Pacific, Chicago Rock Island and Pacific, and Missouri Pacific illustrates the transport-heavy economy of north-central Kansas. The massive Fort Riley Military Reservation dominates the center of the sheet, while established settlements like Manhattan, Marysville, and Hiawatha serve as regional anchors. From the grain-shipping nodes along U.S. 36 to the limestone-rich valleys, the map details a settled agricultural and military corridor at its mid-century peak.