Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1885 on.
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 Belleville Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Belleville Township. 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 Belleville Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Belleville Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Belleville Township is a township in Chautauqua County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 458.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 569 to 458 (-20%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCivil War veterans of William McCullough Post No. 44
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveRed Cross float for Armistice Day parade2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Belleville Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Belleville Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Jonesburg, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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 the Library of Congress (2), 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.
