1944 Map of Providence

About this map

Providence and the surrounding Polk County landscape appear here in the final years of World War II, showing a mosaic of wetlands and scrub typical of central Florida’s interior. The settlement of Orangedale sits to the east, connected by a network of rural roads and an Old Railroad Grade that speaks to the region's earlier industrial logging or phosphate transport history. Significant land modification is evident through several Borrow Pits and areas marked as being under construction, indicating the mid-century expansion of infrastructure. Water dominates the terrain, with Sick Lake and Lester Lake providing focal points amidst a complex pattern of swamps and intermittent ponds that defined the rural character of the area before large-scale modern development.