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1941 Map of Royal Oak

Name: 1941 Topographic Map of Royal Oak
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1941
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1941

About this map

The northern edge of the City of Detroit meets the growing suburban settlements of Oakland County in this 1939 survey. The landscape is defined by a rigid grid of residential expansion, yet it preserves significant institutional footprints including Marygrove College, the University of Detroit, and several social welfare landmarks like the Arnold Home and the Home for the Aged. These institutions, alongside numerous local schools such as Cooley High Sch and Higginsbotham Sch, reflect a period of intensive community development just before the United States' entry into World War II.

Transportation corridors like the Northwestern Hy and the Pere Marquette railroad facilitate the connection between the urban core and towns like Royal Oak and Ferndale. Leisure and natural space are carved out of the city grid at the Detroit Zoological Park, Rackham Golf Course, and the Detroit Polo Club. Large cemetery tracts, including Woodlawn Cem and Evergreen Cem, provide a permanent record of the region's early 20th-century history.