1936 Map of Rich Hill

About this map

Rich Hill serves as the regional center for this Western Missouri landscape during the mid-1930s, showing a well-defined urban grid intersected by the Missouri Pacific railroad. The map documents an area defined by its coal-mining history and complex hydrology, most notably the Jonnum Mines and the meandering path of the Osage River. Smaller communities like Carbon Center and Panama are visible alongside a dense network of rural infrastructure, including many neighborhood schools such as Ovid Sch and Greencastle Sch. The southern portion of the sheet reveals the confluence of the Little Osage River and the Marmaton River, where numerous sloughs and lakes like Lake Lona and Cresap Lake suggest a bottomland prone to seasonal flooding. This topographic record highlights the transition from concentrated industrial extraction to traditional riverine agriculture across the Bates and Vernon county line.