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1940 Map of Morrison

Name: 1940 Topographic Map of Morrison
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1940
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1940

About this map

The Chicago and Northwestern railroad corridor anchors the southern landscape of this Whiteside County survey, connecting the busy hub of Morrison to smaller whistle-stops like Round Grove and Galt. The terrain is defined by a dense network of country schools and rural churches, reflecting the high agricultural population density of the late 1930s. Notable community landmarks include the Dutchtown Ch near Milledgeville and the Genesee Grove Ch tucked alongside the winding Little Rock Creek.

Northward, the map details the rural townships of Fairhaven and Clyde, where family-named schools such as Hartman Sch and Walker Sch provided local education long before district consolidation. The drainage patterns of Rock Creek and Otter Creek carve through the landscape, dictating the placement of early settlements like Malvern and White Pigeon. This sheet is an essential resource for tracing the vanished geography of one-room schoolhouses and early church congregations across the northern Illinois prairie.