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1898 Map of Philadelphia

Name: 1898 Topographic Map of Philadelphia
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1908
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1908

About this map

The Delaware River serves as the industrial and logistical spine for this late nineteenth-century urban and rural landscape, separating the dense grid of Philadelphia from the burgeoning suburbs of New Jersey. On the Pennsylvania side, the Schuylkill River meets the Delaware at League Id., near the extensive U. S. Navy Yard and the defensive fortifications of Fort Mifflin. The map captures a critical period of infrastructure development, where massive rail systems like the Pennsylvania R. R. and the Atlantic City R. R. converge on the waterfronts of Philadelphia and Camden.

Moving south into New Jersey, the landscape transitions from the riverfront activity at Kaighn Point to a network of smaller creek-side communities. Detailed surveying reveals the early footprints of settlements such as Woodbury Heights, Wenonah, and the curiously named Good Intent. The intricate drainage patterns of Mantua Creek and Big Timber Creek are meticulously charted, showing how the natural hydrology influenced the placement of towns like Blackwood and Paulsboro before twentieth-century channelization and sprawl reshaped the region.