Those Places Thursday - 1955 Willow Township Map

Those Places Thursday

1955 Willow Township Map

[Click to See Enlarged Version]

I love maps. This 1955 map has the farm where I grew up along with all the other property owners in the neighborhood, as of 1 Apr 1955. My Dad, Leverne Smith (listed as LeVerne), is seen in Section 8 (one down and one to the right, from the upper left corner). Our 160 acres, at the time, were split with an 80 north of the road and an 80 south of the road, as can be seen.

Notice the serpentine numbering of the sections: start in upper right with 1 (off the edge, on this copy), moving left along the top tier, then dropping a tier and moving right; then, dropping a tier and moving back to the left... back and forth through the township - to 36 in the lower right, since our township was a 6x6 symmetrical township, in the southwest corner of Greene County, Iowa.

Rural school districts were founded based on four square miles, with the school located on the intersection at the middle of the square. They were numbered similarly...

Therefore, our rural one-room school district, Willow #3, included the four square miles in the upper left corner. Our farmhouse was on the north side of the road, so we were in this district. If we had lived on the south side of the road, we would have been in Willow #4 to the south.

Oh, the memories, as I read these names and places - including Willow Creek running north to south through the western half of the Township! ;-)


Families are Forever!  ;-)