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1914 Map of Van Wert

Name: 1914 Topographic Map of Van Wert
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1942
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1942

About this map

The county seat of Van Wert serves as the central hub of this 1911 survey, showing a dense grid of urban streets intersected by the Pennsylvania System and the Cincinnati Northern R R. This era in Western Ohio was defined by an extensive network of interurban lines, such as the Pennsylvania Electric Road and Ohio Electric R R, which linked small agricultural communities like Convoy and Ohio City.

A strictly organized landscape of sections and township lines is punctuated by numerous rural social centers. Genealogists will find a wealth of named local schools and churches, including the Greyhound School in the northwest and Asbury Church near the Boundary Line. The drainage patterns of Prairie Creek and Blue Creek illustrate the systematic transformation of the regional wetlands into productive farmland through an intricate system of ditches, such as Sponseller Ditch and Hagerman Run.