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1953 Map of Nortonville

Name: 1953 Topographic Map of Nortonville
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1954
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1954

About this map

Nortonville serves as a central junction in this mid-century portrait of Hopkins County, where the north-south lines of the Louisville And Nashville railroad meet the east-west tracks of the Illinois Central. This rail-oriented landscape is defined by the heavy footprint of the local mining industry, with numerous Strip Mine operations carved into the hills between Mortons Gap and Oak Hill. The presence of scattered Oil Wells further illustrates the extraction-based economy of the 1950s.

Rural community life is anchored by family-named sites and small congregations such as Old Salem Ch and McIntosh Chapel. The terrain transitions from the marshy lowlands of the West Fork Pond River in the east to the more dissected hills in the west. Local genealogists will find significant value in the documentation of family burial grounds like Whitfield Cem and Ferguson Cem, which remain as markers of the area's early settlement patterns.