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1897 Map of Medina

Name: 1897 Topographic Map of Medina
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1927
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1927

About this map

The Erie Canal serves as the primary industrial artery of this landscape, cutting through the northern settlements of Medina, Middleport, and Knowlesville. Parallel to this historic waterway, the New York Central and Hudson River railroad facilitates the heavy transport of the era, while the ancient Ridge Road skirts the northern boundary. South of these transit corridors, the terrain shifts into the expansive Oak Orchard Swamp, a massive wetland drained by Oak Orchard Creek that historically dictated the slow pace of agricultural expansion in Orleans and Genesee counties.

The southern portion of the sheet is anchored by the Tonawanda Indian Reservation, where Tonawanda Creek meanders toward the community of Indian Falls. Smaller rail hubs like Smithville Sta. and Akron Sta. highlight the late 19th-century reliance on localized rail access for farming hamlets like Wheatville and Shelby. This survey documents a critical transition point where the high-activity canal and rail zone of the north gives way to the more secluded river valleys and wetlands of the south.