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1959 Map of Princeton

Name: 1959 Topographic Map of Princeton
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1964
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1964

About this map

Princeton serves as the industrial and transit hub of this 1959 landscape, where the Southern and Chicago And Eastern Illinois railroads converge. The map documents an intensive hydraulic engineering system designed to manage the flood-prone bottomlands where the Wabash River, White River, and Patoka River meet. Features like the Brevoort Levee and a dense network of drainage channels, including Mauck Ditch and Stormont Ditch, reveal the effort required to reclaim this fertile river junction for agriculture and settlement.

Rural life is anchored by small communities and spiritual centers such as Lyles, Hazleton, and Decker, with local landmarks like Decker Chapel and Steelman Chapel marking the social geography. In the south, Owensville and Fort Branch reflect the expansion of the regional infrastructure, while the presence of an Oil Refinery near King and various Quarry sites points to the extraction economy that defined the era alongside traditional farming.