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1952 Map of Rattle Run

Name: 1952 Topographic Map of Rattle Run
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1954
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1954

About this map

Belle River and its tributary Rattle Run wind through this St. Clair County landscape during the early 1950s, defining a rural community organized around water-powered history and small-town infrastructure. The map reveals a dense network of one-room schoolhouses such as Wright Sch, Carleton Sch, and Big Hand Sch that served the agricultural townships of China, St. Clair, and Casco. Significant local landmarks include the Bell River Mills settlement and its nearby Bell River Mills School, along with the Town Hall and Maple Ridge Cemetery.

Evidence of the area's transition appears in the marking of the Kennedy School (Abandoned) and the systematic drainage of the land through an intricate series of cuts like Angel Drain, Hurst Drain, and Barringer Drain. This survey, compiled from 1930s plane-table work and 1952 culture revisions, provides genealogists a precise look at the rural road grid, from Gratiot Road to Puttygut Road, before late-century development altered the character of the river valleys.