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1887 Map of Taylor

Name: 1887 Topographic Map of Taylor
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1887
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1887

About this map

Taylor anchors the southwestern portion of this Central Texas survey, established as a major rail hub where the International and Great Northern Railroad and the Missouri Pacific Railroad meet. The landscape in the late 1880s is defined by a dense network of watercourses, including the San Gabriel River and Little River, which carve through the blackland prairies of Williamson, Milam, and Bell counties.

Smaller settlements like Davilla, Granger, and Thorndale appear in their early stages of development, often positioned along the emerging rail lines or near established crossings like Circleville. The convergence of multiple rail systems across this territory, including the Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad in the northeast, illustrates the rapid transformation of the Texas interior into a commercial agricultural corridor during the post-Reconstruction era.