Then and now
Dowagiac, 1860 and today
Dowagiac, in Cass County, grew up along the Michigan Central Railroad, which cuts across its 1860 plan on a long diagonal. Here it is laid over the streets of today. Fade between the two, or drag a line across and see one beside the other.
Other towns: Cassopolis · Niles · Paw Paw · South Bend · Goshen · Elkhart · all seven
Drag to move. Scroll, pinch or use the buttons to zoom. The old plan was lined up by hand on street corners that still carry their 1860 names, so it is close but not exact: expect it to be out by a few yards in places.
Things to look for
- The railroad, its depot and freight house, and how the streets beside it were laid out on the slant.
- The Union School on Parsonage Street, and the Cemetery at the west edge of town.
- The additions named for the men who laid them out: Hamilton’s, McOmber’s, Spalding’s and the rest. Each name is a lead to a plat.
- Dowagiac Creek and Herndon Mills at the south edge of the plan.
- The names on the lots, such as P. Hamilton and G. C. Jones, and the business directory printed beside the plan.
How this was made
The plan was cut from the Library of Congress copy of the wall map. Thirty-three street corners that appear on both maps (Parsonage, Green, Cross, Center, Hamilton, Orchard, Front and McOmber, where they meet Wayne, North, Telegraph, West, Spruce, Courtland and Division) were matched by measurement, and the plan was fitted to them. On average the old corners land within about three yards of the new ones.
The little village of Brownsville, printed in the corner of the same inset, has been left out of this copy.
1860 plan: Map of the Counties of Cass, Van Buren and Berrien, Michigan (Philadelphia: Geil, Harley & Siverd, 1860), inset “Dowagiac, Cass Co.” Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, g4113c.la000324. Public domain. Today’s aerial photograph and, once the challenge is solved, today’s names: USGS The National Map (public domain). Today’s streets and water drawn as lines: OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License.
The business directory printed beside this plan is in the roll of names: who was in Dowagiac in 1860 →