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St. Mary's Catholic ChurchSt. Mary's Catholic Church · Photo: SharonPapierdreams · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Union Township

47% of Union Township’s homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register.

4on the National Register
47%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Union Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages6 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Union Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Union Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Union Township’s homes were built before 1953.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Normanville
1862–1887
Saint Benedict
1870–1870
Darwin
1882–1888
Underwood
1882–1882
Purcell
1887–1956
Dentonville
1888–1905
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DentonPurcell
Gone or out of use
DarwinlocaleMount Vernon SchoolschoolNormanvillelocaleNormile SchoolschoolPurcell Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Union Township
AndersonDentonRobertsonSaint Mary'sVictory

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

Help out

Start Union Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Union 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
The story so far

Union Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Union Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Union Township is a township in Doniphan County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 276.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 297 to 276 (-7%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Union Township, 1862 to 1903

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Normanville post office opens
  3. 1870Post officeThe Saint Benedict post office opens
  4. 1870Post officeThe Saint Benedict post office closes
  5. 1882Post officeThe Darwin post office opens
  6. 1887Post officeThe Normanville post office closes
  7. 1888Post officeThe Darwin post office closes
  8. 1896BuiltSt. Mary's Catholic Church is built
  9. 20th century
  10. 1903BuiltSt. Benedict's Church is built
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 National Register

4 historic places in Union Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1987
Mathew Eylar Barn No. 1
St. Mary's Catholic Church, built 1896Mathew Eylar Barn No. 1Mathew Eylar Barn No. 2St. Benedict's Church, built 1903
Buildings
St. Mary's Catholic ChurchBuilt 1896
All 4 listings
Mathew Eylar Barn No. 1Building · listed 1987Mathew Eylar Barn No. 2Building · listed 1987St. Benedict's ChurchBuilding · listed 1998

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Union Township

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

See all →
Amelia EarhartAmerican aviation pioneer and author · b. 1897
M
Mary Peters FieserAmerican chemist · b. 1909
J
Jesse StoneAmerican rhythm and blues musician and songwrit… · b. 1901
Charles Lester MarlattAmerican entomologist · b. 1863
Chester L. MizeAmerican politician · b. 1917
David W. HopkinsAmerican politician · b. 1897
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Independence Township4 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWashington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWolf River Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLancaster TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Union Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Union Township?

4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Mathew Eylar Barn No. 1 (listed 1987, the first).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.