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History · Bloom Township

Bloom Township’s post office opened in 1885, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1969 on.

1885first post office
0on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Bloom Township began

When was Bloom Township founded?

1885

The Bloom Township post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bloom (1885), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 110141 years
Founding year: the first Bloom Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bloom 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 Bloom Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Bloom Township’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bloom Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bloom 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 Bloom Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bloom Township.

Read it all →

Bloom was established by Thomas J. Vanderslice and Samuel O. Albright in 1887 or 1888. Vanderslice named it Bloom after his hometown of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. The small town sprang to life when the Rock Island Railroad pushed west. The town's original train depot can still be found in Bloom.

Bloom's population reached a few hundred in the 1930s but gradually declined thereafter and is now less than 50. Bloom High School closed in 1964 when the town's school district merged with that of Minneola.

The small town once had a hotel, gas station, restaurant, post office, and lumber yard. Today, only a grain elevator business and private residences remain. Wheat farms and ranches surround the small town.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bloom Township, 1885 to 1989

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Bloom post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1969On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1989Post officeThe Bloom post office closes
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

Bloom Township on the map in 1969

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bloom Township.

Bloom Township on the 1969 USGS map1969Fort Dodge SW sheet · 1:24,000

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

Places that used to be

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

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Bloom
Gone or out of use
Shelor Airportairport
1cemetery inside Bloom Township
Bloom

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.

Appleton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSodville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWilburn TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bloom Township’s history

What year was Bloom Township founded?

The Bloom Township post office opened in 1885, 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 →
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.