Then and now
Paw Paw, 1860 and today
Paw Paw, the county seat of Van Buren County, sits on the Paw Paw River. 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 · 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
- Kalamazoo, Niles, LaGrave, Brown, Van Buren and Gremps Streets, all still carrying their 1860 names.
- The Paw Paw River winding through the west side of town, and the mills and tannery beside it.
- The Cemetery and the Road to Allegan at the north edge.
- The additions: Willard’s, Dyckman’s and Woodman’s. Each name is a lead to a plat.
- The business directory printed beside the plan: lawyers, county officers, merchants and mechanics of 1860.
How this was made
The plan was cut from the Library of Congress copy of the wall map. Thirty street corners that appear on both maps (Gremps, Kalamazoo, Niles, LaGrave, Brown and Van Buren, where they meet Cedar, Pine, Elm, Oak and Paw Paw Street) were matched by measurement, and the plan was fitted to them. On average the old corners land within about four yards of the new ones.
The wall map was printed in sheets, and the join between two of them runs across the south end of this plan. The strip below the join has been left off.
1860 plan: Map of the Counties of Cass, Van Buren and Berrien, Michigan (Philadelphia: Geil, Harley & Siverd, 1860), inset “Paw Paw, County Seat of Van Buren 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 Paw Paw in 1860 →