1922 Map of Schoolcraft

About this map

The village of Schoolcraft sits at a major rail junction in the early 1920s, where the Michigan Central RR crosses the Grand Trunk RR amidst a landscape defined by glacial lakes. The density of rural education is a striking feature of this survey, with dozens of institutions like Prairie Grove School, Section Sixteen School, and the County Center School serving the agricultural townships of Texas, Portage, and Prairie Ronde. To the east, Vicksburg serves as another industrial hub, positioned near the Grand Rapids and Indiana RR and the expansive waters of Sunset Lake. The map reveals an intricate network of water bodies, from the leisure-oriented Ramona Park on Austin Lake to the meandering Portage River, illustrating how the region's hydrology dictated both the placement of early settlements and the path of the iron rails.