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History · Butler Township

40% of Butler Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1936 on.

0on the National Register
40%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Butler Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Butler Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Butler Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Butler Township’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Butler Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Butler Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Pellsville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

East Lynn
1872–today
Pellsville
1872–1887
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
East LynnHustlePellvilleReilly
Gone or out of use
Arnold SchoolschoolBratton SchoolschoolCentennial SchoolschoolClark SchoolschoolFlagg SchoolschoolMurphy SchoolschoolNewman SchoolschoolPeterson SchoolschoolPine Grove SchoolschoolPleasant Valley SchoolschoolPrairie View ChapelchurchRussells AirportairportSchwartz ChurchchurchScience Hill Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Butler Township
East LynnPellvilleRankin Union

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Butler Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Butler Township.

Read it all →

The township was formed from a portion of Middlefork Township in 1840 and was named after General Benjamin F. Butler, a civil war hero.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Butler Township, 1872 to 1936

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1872Post officeThe East Lynn post office opens
  3. 1872Post officeThe Pellsville post office opens
  4. 1887Post officeThe Pellsville post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1936On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Butler Township on the map, 1936 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Butler Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Butler Township on the 1936 USGS mapButler Township on the 1957 USGS mapButler Township on the 1982 USGS map1936Potomac sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Butler Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Butler Township

Nobody well known was born in Butler Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Curtiss LaQ. DayAmerican aviator · b. 1895
J
Jean HixsonAmerican aviator · b. 1922
Mike FrerichsAmerican politician from Illinois · b. 1973
Thad MattaAmerican basketball player-coach · b. 1967
Tom HamiltonAmerican football player · b. 1905
Frankie GustineAmerican baseball player · b. 1920
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Middlefork TownshipIts storyBButton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFountain Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Butler Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.