The story
Read it all →How Parke Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Parke Township.
According to Warren Upham, Parke Township was probably named for an early settler.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Parke Township
13% of Parke Township’s homes were built before 1940
Its Register listings are the District No. 3 School and the Grong Lutheran Church. Below: maps from 1966 on.
2on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
What stands out about Parke 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 Parke Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Parke Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Timeline
Parke Township, 1880 to 1966
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1880Post officeThe Rollag post office opens
- 20th century
- 1929Post officeThe Rollag post office closes
- 1966
On 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 albumOn the map
Parke Township on the map, 1966 to 1985
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Parke Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1966Lake Park SW sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Parke Township.
On the National Register
2 historic places in Parke Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2023
District No. 3 School
Buildings
All 2 listings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Parke Township
Nobody well known was born in Parke Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Rollag, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Rollag
Gone or out of use
Rollag Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Parke Township
BethanyGrong LutheranOld YankeePark Lutheran ChurchRollag Lutheran Church
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.
Eglon TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCormorant TownshipIts storyC−Skree TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTansem TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLake Park TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Questions about Parke Township’s history
What is on the National Register in Parke Township?
Two places: the District No. 3 School (listed 2023) and the Grong Lutheran Church (2026).
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 National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.