Loading map...

1955 Map of Wakarusa

Name: 1955 Topographic Map of Wakarusa
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1966
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1966

About this map

Forbes Air Force Base dominates the central landscape south of Topeka, serving as a massive military installation that defines the mid-century geography of Shawnee County. This Cold War era survey captures the base alongside a network of rural schoolhouses and cemeteries that reveal the transition of the Kansas prairie. Several schoolhouses, including Williamsport Sch and Harrison Sch, are already noted as abandoned, marking the consolidation of rural education districts.

The southern portion of the map is shaped by the winding Wakarusa River, which is joined by tributaries like Towhead Creek and Bury's Creek. Transportation is anchored by the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe and Missouri Pacific railroads, while the Kansas Turnpike cuts north-south through the terrain. In the northwest, the Potawatomi Indian Reservation Boundary reminds researchers of the area's complex jurisdictional history near the settlement of Wakarusa.