The Dover Township post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Union Town (1856) and Valencia (1878), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,677163 years
How historic is Dover Township?
B
More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Dover Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Dover Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dover Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dover Township’s overall grade.
Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Dover Township’s 20.8 sits above most of its state (83% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.4 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Dover Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Settlers came in the year 1856. The Sage and Bassett families in Dover came from Somersetshire, Bristol.
Dover was made a voting precinct of Auburn Township, October 1, 1860, and in the fall of 1867, was erected into a township. E.M. Hewins was the first trustee; Jacob Haskell and George Harden, justices. The first postmaster was Alfred Sage, appointed in 1862, and the family name, Sage, is still widespread in the area today.
Passages that mention Dover Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Shawnee County, Kansas1905 · page 45Read the page →
Read the text
Dover Township — Established in 1867, located immediately north of Auburn township, on the Wabaunsee County line, and extending north to the Kansas River. The first actual settlers were Alfred and John Sage, who opened farms within the boundaries of the township July 18, 1856. In the fall of the same year they were joined by Thomas and Albert Haskell, and John Rust. In the early part of 1859 the colony was augmented by the arrival of John and Noah Gibbs. William Collins and Jacob Orcutt: and in the fall of the same year by T. D. Parks, Daniel Sayres and Jacob Haskell.
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.
Timeline
Dover Township, 1856 to 1957
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dover Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1952Willard 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 Dover Township.
On the National Register
3 historic places in Dover Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
The Dover Township post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Dover Township rank for history?
Dover Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Dover Township?
Three places: the Sage Inn (listed 1976), the Blacksmith Creek Bridge (1983) and the Uniontown Cemetery (2010).
How old are the homes in Dover Township?
11% of Dover Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.4 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1994.
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).
From the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
