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1888 Map of St. Louis

Name: 1888 Topographic Map of St. Louis
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1888
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1888

About this map

The Mississippi River serves as the central artery for this late-19th-century landscape, defined by a complex web of industrial transit and ancient earthworks. East of the dense urban grid of St. Louis, the Illinois floodplain, protected by the American Bottom Levee, reveals a high concentration of rail lines such as the Wabash St Louis and Pacific Railroad and the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad converging on East St Louis. These corridors supported a string of emerging settlements like Brooklyn, Venice, and French Village.

Beyond the industrial hubs, the terrain is marked by significant water bodies including Horseshoe Lake and Grand Marais Lake. Near the center of the sheet, the prehistoric Monks Mound stands prominently near Cahokia Creek, a stark contrast to the nearby coal-era rail stops at Lenz Station and Yoch Station. This survey captures a specific moment when agrarian tracts and river wetlands were being rapidly overwritten by the rail-and-river economy of the Illinois bottomlands.