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1957 Map of St. Elmo

Name: 1957 Topographic Map of St. Elmo
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1975
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1975

About this map

St Elmo serves as a primary rail and transit hub in this mid-century view of southern Mobile County, situated along the L & N RR and Old Pascagoula Road. The landscape is defined by the interlacing waters of Miller Creek, Turkey Creek, and Baker Creek, which carve through the terrain toward the marshy lowlands near Copeland Island. Settlement is clustered around rural community centers like Dawes and Union Church, where the Dawes-Union Sch and local congregations such as Providence Ch and St Johns Ch formed the backbone of local life.

Transportation and aviation marks the era's growth, evidenced by the presence of both the St Elmo Landing Field and the Idle Hour Airport. These small-scale airfields, alongside the historic trackage of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, illustrate a transition in how this coastal Alabama region connected to the wider world. For genealogists, the map preserves the locations of the Community Cem and other burial grounds, anchoring family history to the specific creek branches and woods of the Alabama Gulf Coast.