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1911 Map of Swanton

Name: 1911 Topographic Map of Swanton
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1956
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1956

About this map

The borderlands of Northwest Ohio and Southern Michigan appear here in a complex network of early 20th-century rural infrastructure and agricultural development. Central to the map is the village of Swanton, a hub where the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern RR intersects with the Toledo and Western RR, an electric line that historically linked regional market towns. The landscape is heavily marked by the educational priorities of the era, with dozens of family-named and numbered schools like Leonardson School, Tripp School, and the uniquely named Frogpond School scattered across the townships.

Drainage and topography are key features of this terrain, from the elevated Dutch Ridge to the engineered Prairie Ditch and the winding course of Swan Creek. Smaller crossroad settlements such as Raab Corners, Richfield Center, and Ai represent the local social centers of the day. The map also delineates historical survey lines, including the Fulton Line and the Twelvemile boundary, which speak to the legal and political history of the Ohio-Michigan state border.