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History · Button Township

Button Township’s post office opened in 1876, and 60% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1957 on and the census since 1990.

1876first post office
0on the National Register
60%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Button Township began

When was Button Township founded?

1876

The Button Township post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Button (1876), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 299 in 19902020 census: 232150 years
Founding year: the first Button Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Button 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 Button Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Button Township’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Button Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Button Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Button Township.

Read it all →

Button Township was named for James Porter Button, Sr. (1822-1866), who served as township supervisor, justice of the peace, and county treasurer.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Button Township, 1876 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1876Post officeThe Button post office opens
  3. 1878Post officeThe Button post office closes
  4. 1878Post officeThe Clarence post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1957On 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.
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On the map

Button Township on the map, 1957 to 1984

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

Button Township on the 1957 USGS mapButton Township on the 1984 USGS map1957Potomac 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 Button Township.

People over time

Button Township, census by census

010020030020002020Peak: 321

Between 232 and 321 people in every census since 1990.

4 censuses, 1990–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Button Township’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

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

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

Button
1876–1878
Clarence
1878–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Clarence
Gone or out of use
Blake SchoolschoolFlagg SchoolschoolStrayer SchoolschoolTeds Place AirportairportTrickel Grove SchoolschoolWaite SchoolschoolWebber Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Button Township
Mount OlivetPleasant GroveTrickle Grove

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Patton Township4 historic placesAButler TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townKerr TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Button Township’s history

What year was Button Township founded?

The Button Township post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.