Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1880.
Beattie dates its founding to 1870 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Beattie’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Beattie. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Beattie.
Peaked at 648 in 1890; 197 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Beattie’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Beattie.
Beattie was laid out in 1870. It is named for Armstrong Beattie, eighth Mayor of St. Joseph, Missouri.
The first post office in Beattie was established in July 1871.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Beattie, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Michael's church and Beattie as a mission, services between the two points being equally divided. In 1909 Father Taton built the parochial residence at Beattie and in the fall of that year the Beattie mission was given over to the Rev. Father Galvin, who became its pastor. On November 8, 1904, work on the new St. Michael's church at Axtell was begun and in the spring of 1905 the corner stone was laid. On April 24, 1906, the church was dedicated, the total cost of the same being nearly twenty-two thousand dollars.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Li the spring of 1871 a depot was moved to Beattie from El wood, Doniphan county, and that same summer J. J. Sheldon moved a house on the townsite and lived in it.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereAngie Debo is born hereFire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1893Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
In 1870, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Beattie’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1880 counted 270 people here.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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