1939 Map of Metz

About this map

The Little Osage River and the Marmaton River define this rural landscape in western Missouri, where 1930s agriculture and rail transport intersect. The town of Metz serves as the primary hub, situated along the Missouri Pacific railroad line, while smaller settlements like Rinehart provide local structure to the farming districts. The map reveals a dense network of civic foundations including numerous country schools such as Old Metz Sch, Roundtop Sch, and West Washington Sch, which suggest the population density of the era before rural consolidation. Several family and community burial grounds, including Pryor Creek Cem and Summers Cem, are preserved on the sheet alongside centers of worship like Otterbein Chapel and Prairie Dell Ch. The presence of oxbows and sloughs like Townsend Slough indicates a dynamic river system that dictated early land use and settlement patterns.