The story
Read it all →How Valley Center Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Valley Center Township.
Valley Center Township was created from part of Pleasant Valley Township in the 1903.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Valley Center Township
Half of Valley Center Township’s homes were built after 1992
Most of Valley Center Township was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1891 on.
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
What stands out about Valley Center Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Valley Center Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Valley Center Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Valley Center Township on the map, 1891 to 1985
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Valley Center Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1891Great Bend sheet · 1:125,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Valley Center Township.
By decade
Valley Center Township, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
19111920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your albumThen & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewSt. Louis-San Francisco Railway : Locomotive SLSF 158, 1911
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Valley Center Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Valley Center Township
Nobody well known was born in Valley Center Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
D
Dale BurnettAmerican football player · b. 1909
M
Mitch WebsterAmerican baseball player · b. 1959B
Belle BenchleyAmerican zoo director · b. 1882M
Mark JenningsMember of the Wyoming House of Representatives · b. 1961M
Mildred Bertha Thurow TateAmerican rural sociologist and university dean · b. 1904Places that used to be
Places now gone
Gone or out of use
Benson Oil and Gas Fieldoilfield
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Cleveland TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFarmington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant Valley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLogan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Valley Center Township’s history
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.