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1919 Map of Wilmington

Name: 1919 Topographic Map of Wilmington
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1919
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1919

About this map

Wilmington serves as the industrial and transit anchor of this 1919 military survey, where the Christiana River and Brandywine River converge before meeting the Delaware River. The map highlights a critical defensive and maritime corridor, dominated by the strategic presence of Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Is., flanked by Fort Dupont and Fort Mott. These coastal fortifications guarded the river approaches during a period of intense rail and canal expansion.

Inland, the landscape is defined by a dense network of early transportation routes, including the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and multiple rail lines like the Baltimore and Ohio RR and the Philadelphia and Wilmington RR. Small crossroads settlements such as Coochs Bridge, Hares Corner, and Brandywine Springs reveal the late-19th-century rural character that persisted just beyond the growing urban centers of Newcastle and Newark Center. The inclusion of the Alms House and various local runs like Muddy Run provides a detailed look at the social and natural geography of New Castle County.