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1934 Map of Mattoon

Name: 1934 Topographic Map of Mattoon
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1977
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1977

About this map

The railroad hub of Mattoon serves as a central anchor in this 1930s landscape, where the Illinois Central and New York Central lines intersect amidst a dense grid of rural schools and family cemeteries. The southern portion of the city gives way to the newly established Lake Mattoon, which features a State Fish Hatchery near its northern banks. The surrounding countryside in Paradise and Pleasant Grove townships is marked by an exceptional density of one-room schoolhouses, including Mound Sch, South Loxa Sch, and Dixie Sch, reflecting the peak of the district school system before mid-century consolidation.

Further south, the landscape follows the winding courses of the Little Wabash River and Muddy Creek, connecting small settlements like Lerna, Trilla, and Neoga. Genealogists will find significant value in the distribution of rural burial grounds such as Old Bethel Cem and Muddy Point Cem, often located near country churches like Shiloh Ch. The transition from the flat prairie in the north to the more dissected drainage of Spring Point in the south illustrates the local topography before modern agricultural leveling.