Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Plum Grove Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Plum Grove Township

Plum Grove Township’s post office opened in 1870, and 29% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1961 on.

1870first post office
0on the National Register
29%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Plum Grove Township began

When was Plum Grove Township founded?

1870

The Plum Grove Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Plum Grove (1870) and Claude (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 591156 years
Founding year: the first Plum Grove Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Plum Grove 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 Plum Grove Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Plum Grove Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Plum Grove Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Plum Grove 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, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Plum Grove
1870–1888
Claude
1884–1891
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Claudelocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Plum Grove Township
HaldemanMcGillPotwin

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

The story

How Plum Grove Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Plum Grove Township.

Read it all →

A post office named Plum Grove was established on July 1, 1870 in northwestern Butler County. The postmaster (and landowner) was John R. Wentworth and the post office was named for the established plum bushes near his homestead. This post office was located next to the East Branch of the Whitewater River near the modern day intersection of NW 110th Street and NW Buffalo Road. Over the next two years, some businesses were started at Plum Grove.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Plum Grove Township, 1870 to 1961

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Plum Grove post office opens
  3. 1884Post officeThe Claude post office opens
  4. 1888Post officeThe Plum Grove post office closes
  5. 1891Post officeThe Claude post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Plum Grove Township on the map, 1961 to 1990

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

Plum Grove Township on the 1961 USGS mapPlum Grove Township on the 1985 USGS mapPlum Grove Township on the 1990 USGS map1961El Dorado NW 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 Plum Grove Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Plum Grove Township

Nobody well known was born in Plum Grove Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Roger MarshallAmerican politician · b. 1960
Mort WalkerAmerican comic strip cartoonist · b. 1923
Steve BrodieAmerican actor · b. 1919
B
Bradley DentonAmerican science fiction author · b. 1958
Jack MarshallAmerican musician, conductor, composer · b. 1921
Maude FultonAmerican actress · b. 1881
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Fairview Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMilton TownshipIts storyB+Clifford TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLincoln Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Plum Grove Township’s history

What year was Plum Grove Township founded?

The Plum Grove Township post office opened in 1870, 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.