BTAA-GIN Collection Stories

By Kathleen Weessies The Hixson Plat Map Atlases of Michigan digital collection contains Hixson plat books for 36 of Michigan’s 83 counties. The W. W. Hixson & Co. published land atlases for numerous midwest states between 1920 and 1955. Plat books are atlases showing larger parcel boundaries and the owner’s name. A plat atlas generally has one township per page (36 square miles), identifying who owns individual parcels of land and the number of acres in each parcel. The plat shows township sections, roads, railroads, boundaries of towns and urban areas, and bodies of water. Local schools, churches and cemeteries are also noted on each map. Since plat maps can be used to trace property ownership over time, they are often sought out by genealogists or people interested in family histories, as well as by historians. No Hixson plat books have dates on them. We know the years the company was in business and we can estimate dates based on the naming on highways. Caption: Before the f...

By Kathleen Weessies. The Michigan survey plats, 1816-1860 This collection consists of 2,466 hand-drawn maps of Michigan’s townships. Between 1816 and 1860, surveyors hired by the United States General Land Office walked and measured every township line and section (mile) line in the State of Michigan. Detailed notes were taken, and from those notes sketched maps were drawn of every survey township. The original plat maps were scanned by the Archives of Michigan and are now discoverable via their website https://Michiganology.org and geographically organized via the BTAA geoportal. The original plat maps of the public land survey of Michigan are a valuable resource for original land survey information, as well as for understanding Michigan’s landscape. The plat maps and the corresponding surveyor’s notes contain detailed information about the original landcover and features of Michigan prior to dense settlement. The public may view each map in an interactive website or download each...