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1941 Map of Pence

Name: 1941 Topographic Map of Pence
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1941
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1941

About this map

Chalk Creek and Ladder Creek carve through the high plains of western Kansas in this 1939 survey of the borderlands between Scott, Wichita, and Logan counties. The landscape is defined by its rural school districts and township divisions, reflecting a mid-century agricultural community where education was localized at sites like Liberty Sch, Enterprise Sch, and Prairie View Sch. These schools, often spaced a few miles apart, served as the primary social anchors for families farming the surrounding Paxton and Lees townships.

At the center of this rural network lies the Pence Cem and Pence Sch, marking the core of a settlement pattern that relied on nearby creek drainages for geographic orientation. The map, based on work by Elmer Elshire and H.S. Hall, captures the precise location of family-named landmarks and rural institutions such as Lone Corner Sch and Pleasant View Sch before the consolidation of these small district schools changed the social geography of the Kansas plains.