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History · Rutland Township

Rutland Township’s post office opened in 1874, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1886 on.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Rutland Township began

When was Rutland Township founded?

1874

The Rutland Township post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Rutland (1874), Grass (1880) and Hosford (1883), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 299152 years
Founding year: the first Rutland Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Rutland 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 Rutland Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18866 editions of the USGS map, 1886 to 1990. Watch Rutland Township change.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Rutland Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rutland Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rutland 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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On the map

Rutland Township on the map, 1886 to 1990

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

Rutland Township on the 1886 USGS mapRutland Township on the 1894 USGS mapRutland Township on the 1905 USGS mapRutland Township on the 1962 USGS mapRutland Township on the 1985 USGS mapRutland Township on the 1990 USGS map1886Independence sheet · 1:125,000

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Rutland
1874–1901
Grass
1880–1886
Hosford
1883–1889
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Black Jack SchoolschoolCard Creek SchoolschoolCircle Valley SchoolschoolDeer Creek SchoolschoolEllis SchoolschoolGrasslocaleHighland Center SchoolschoolHosfordlocaleJames SchoolschoolPleasant Ridge ChurchchurchQuaker ChurchchurchRutland Center SchoolschoolSunny Side Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rutland Township
Highland CenterQuakerRutland

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

The story

How Rutland Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rutland Township.

Read it all →

Rutland Township is best known for being a childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder and birthplace of her younger sister Carrie Ingalls. The Ingalls family lived in the township from 1869–1871. The land used to belong to the Osage Nation before they were forcibly moved to Oklahoma.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rutland Township, 1874 to 1901

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Rutland post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Grass post office opens
  4. 1883Post officeThe Hosford post office opens
  5. 1886Post officeThe Grass post office closes
  6. 1886On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1889Post officeThe Hosford post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1901Post officeThe Rutland 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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Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Caney TownshipIts storyC+Louisburg Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndependence Township2 historic placesB+

Questions about Rutland Township’s history

What year was Rutland Township founded?

The Rutland Township post office opened in 1874, 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 →
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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.