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1956 Map of Old Orchard Beach

Name: 1956 Topographic Map of Old Orchard Beach
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1971
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1971

About this map

Old Orchard Beach serves as the focal point of this coastal survey, where the leisure economy of the shoreline meets the established educational and residential centers of Saco and Biddeford. The map reveals a high concentration of institutions south of Goosefare Brook, including Thornton Academy, the Armory, and several local schools like Burns Sch and Sweetser Sch. Further inland, the landscape transitions from the dense street grids of the coast to the rural expanses of Scarborough and Buxton, characterized by family-named landmarks such as Fogg Hill and Mitchell Hill.

A network of watercourses, including the Nonesuch River and the expansive wetland known as The Heath, dictates the placement of early settlements like Milliken Mills and Dunstan. The Boston and Maine Railroad and the Maine Turnpike underscore the region's importance as a transportation corridor. Genealogists will find value in the scattered cemeteries and the prominent Campground Tabernacle near Ocean Park, reflecting the area's religious and communal history during the mid-20th century.