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1954 Map of Springfield

Name: 1954 Topographic Map of Springfield
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1980
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1980

About this map

Springfield serves as the focal point of the Ozark Plateau in the mid-1950s, a period of significant regional transit and institutional growth. The map illustrates the convergence of major corridors like U.S. Highway 66 and the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, which supported the city's emergence as a medical and educational hub for Southwest Missouri. Local landmarks such as Drury College and the Lester E. Cox Medical Center are established features of the urban landscape.

Beyond the city limits, the landscape transitions into the rolling hills and deep river valleys of the Mark Twain National Forest. The map documents the early development of massive water projects like the Harry S Truman Reservoir and Stockton Lake, alongside established recreation sites like Bennett Spring State Park. For genealogists, the sheet is dense with rural identifiers, from the Union Chapel Cemetery to isolated outposts like Freistatt and Rescue, preserving the locations of country churches and family burial grounds before modern expansion.