Description
This bird’s eye view map of Marshalltown, Iowa, was created in 1868 by the Merchant's Lithographing Company of Chicago. The words in the bottom center of the map read, "Bird's Eye View of the City of Marshalltown Marshall Co. Iowa 1868." The "references" box to the left read: 1. Court House, 2. County Jail, 3. School House, 4. C&N.W. Railroad Depot, 5. Public Square. The "churches" box to the right reads: 6. Baptist, 7. E. Methodist, 8. Pr. Methodist, 9. Lutheran, 10. Presbyterian, 11. Catholic. This map is part of a collection of more than 1,700 such maps at the Library of Congress. The panoramic map was a popular cartographic form used to depict U.S. and Canadian cities and towns during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The population of Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1870 was 3,218.
Source-Dependent Questions
- Is Marshalltown, Iowa, an urban area or a rural area? Use evidence from the map to support your answer.
- Look at how the land is used in Marshalltown. What patterns do you see in the number of streets and roads, spacing of the houses, location of businesses, etc., that can help you decide if this is an urban area or a rural area?
Citation Information
Ruger, A., "Bird's eye view of the city of Marshalltown, Marshall Co., Iowa," 1868. Courtesy of Library of Congress