- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Research Guides
- BOTANY 211: Changed Landscape of Wisconsin (Spring 2022)
- Survey & Landownership Maps
BOTANY 211: Changed Landscape of Wisconsin (Spring 2022) : Survey & Landownership Maps
Sources
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WI Original Land Survey Notes & MapsThe field notes and plat maps of the public land survey of Wisconsin conducted between 1832 and 1866.
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WI Landownership MapsMaps and atlases of Wisconsin landownership, 1857-1960s.
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WI Land Economic InventoryIncluded on the maps are such features as houses, schools, churches, taverns, cheese factories, filling stations, and logging camps. These maps present a portrait of the Wisconsin landscape during the 1930s and 1940s.
About Survey and Landownership Maps
Landownership maps, or plat maps, are overviews of who owns the land within each township. They are primarily useful for rural areas where individual own larger plots of land. They are also useful to watch the growth of urban areas over time as city development takes over farms.
In Wisconsin, these maps are based on the Surveyors' Field Notes and Plats of Wisconsin - a collection of thousands of maps and written observations recorded between 1833 and 1866, when Wisconsin land was sub-divided into parcels for purchase and settlement.
Left - An 1834 hand-drawn map showing Town 7 North, Range 9 East in Dane County, the area of Madison containing UW campus.
Right - The original field notes recording the landscape taken while surveying the land in 1834.
Find these and more of the original land survey maps and notes here: https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/SurveyNotes/
Using Plat Maps
1873 Plat Map showing the UW campus area of Madison
In the map above, notice how the square sections match the squares on the 1834 hand-drawn map. These section lines were created during the original survey and are still used today in legal descriptions of land parcels. Also notice how the line between the urban city of Madison and the surrounding countryside can be seen when the grid of city blocks gives way to the large pieces of land with one owner's name on them.