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1956 Map of West Palm Beach

Name: 1956 Topographic Map of West Palm Beach
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1964
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1964

About this map

The Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp dominate the Southern Florida interior, revealing a mid-century landscape defined by massive water management projects and scattered agricultural settlements. Along the southern rim of Lake Okeechobee, communities like Pahokee, Belle Glade, and the small settlement of Chosen are linked by a complex network of drainage works including the Miami Canal, Hillsboro Canal, and Bolles Canal. These engineering feats allowed for the expansion of inland towns like Immokalee and Clewiston into once-impenetrable wetlands.

On the Atlantic coast, the urban corridor from West Palm Beach down to Fort Lauderdale is already densely established, while the Gulf coast highlights a burgeoning Naples and Fort Myers. This 1:250,000 scale survey also documents significant federal and state land use, from the Big Cypress Indian Reservation and Florida State Indian Reservation to military installations such as Palm Beach AFB and the Jupiter Auxiliary Air Force Base.