Then and now
Elkhart, 1861 and today
Elkhart, Indiana, grew up on the point where the Elkhart River runs into the St. Joseph. The 1861 county map has its plan in the corner. 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 · Dowagiac · Paw Paw · South Bend · Goshen · 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 1861 names, so it is close but not exact: expect it to be out by a few yards in places.
Things to look for
- Main and Second Streets, running down from the point between the rivers. Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, High and Franklin still cross them under their 1861 names.
- Pigeon Street, between Jackson and High. It is still there under another name. Fade to today and find what it is called now.
- Vistula Street, cutting across the west side on the slant. It is still on today’s map.
- The Grist Mill and the Paper Mill at the top of the plan, by the dam on the St. Joseph.
- The Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad and its Goshen branch, and Chapman & Kimball’s addition beside it, with Division and Rail Road Streets.
- Water and Sycamore Streets on the point between the two rivers.
How this was made
The plan is shown live from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Libraries’ image service, at full detail. Twenty-four street corners that appear on both maps (Main, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth, where they meet Sycamore, Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Pigeon, High and Franklin) were matched by measurement, and the plan was fitted to them. Elkhart’s streets run on a slant to the compass, about twenty degrees, and the 1861 engraver drew them the same way, so the plan hardly turns at all. On average the old corners land within about three yards of the new ones.
The title of the county map is printed in the corner of this inset, over open ground; that corner has been cut away so it does not hide today’s streets. The oval stamp at the foot of the plan is the library’s mark on the original.
1861 plan: Map of Elkhart Co. Indiana (Philadelphia: Samuel Geil, 1861), published by Geil & Harley, inset “Elkhart.” American Geographical Society Library, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Libraries. Public domain, shown live from the Library’s image service. 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.