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History · Isbel Township

The history of Isbel Township

Below: maps from 1941 on.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Isbel 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 Isbel Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Isbel Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Isbel Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Plummer
1886–1887
Modoc
1887–1989
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Modoc
Gone or out of use
Beaver Creek SchoolschoolFender SchoolschoolPlainview SchoolschoolPrairie Bell SchoolschoolSetablocale
1cemetery inside Isbel Township
Modoc

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

The story

How Isbel Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Isbel Township.

Read it all →

Isbel Township was established in 1886, as was all townships in Scott County.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Isbel Township, 1886 to 1989

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Plummer post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Plummer post office closes
  4. 1887Post officeThe Modoc post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1941On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1989Post officeThe Modoc 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

Isbel Township on the map, 1941 to 1976

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

Isbel Township on the 1941 USGS mapIsbel Township on the 1951 USGS mapIsbel Township on the 1976 USGS map1941Modoc 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 Isbel Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Beaver Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Isbel Township’s history

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, 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.