The Bethany Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1860. Two smaller post offices, Woodbine (1857) and Mitchellville (1865), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 994 in 18802020 census: 3,320176 years
Founding year: the first Bethany Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1860.The full story ↓
What stands out about Bethany Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
European settlement of Harrison County began c. 1838, although the land was not surveyed and opened for entry until 1842. The county is named after Albert C. Harrison, a 19th-century Missouri political figure. Many of the early settlers to the area homesteaded along Sugar Creek and in the Bethany area. Three commissioners deliberated for several days to determine a site for the county seat, and voted to site it in the southern part of the county. The original name of the community was Dallas.
In June 1845, John S. Allen was appointed to survey the town into lots and offer the same for sale. The plat, covering 19 acres (7.7 hectare), was completed on June 27, 1845.
Passages that mention Bethany Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Harrison County, Missouri1921 · page 164Read the page →
Read the text
Bethany, the county seat, is the largest town in the county. It is located on the Burlington Railroad in Bethany Township. The principal religious denominations are here represented and Bethany has been known for many years for the high standard of its schools. The principal streets are paved and the town has a good water and sewerage system and a municipal electric light plant. Banking and all business and professions are well represented and Bethany is a thriving commercial town. Its population, according to the census of 1920, was 2,080.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Harrison County, Missouri1921 · page 326Read the page →
Read the text
Moses Manifold and his family settled in Iowa in 1868, later moving to Cherokee County, Kansas, where they remained for six years. They came to Harrison County, Missouri, in 1874, settling first at Bethany and then in Bethany Township. Mr. Manifold purchased a farm in Jefferson Township which he later sold and moved to Bethany, where he died February 22, 1913. He is buried in the Bethany Cemetery. His widow still lives in Bethany.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Bethany Township, 1857 to 1986
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bethany Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1986Maryville sheet · 1:100,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bethany Township.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Bethany Township
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Bethany Township, census by census
Between 994 and 3,292 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bethany Township’s Wikipedia page.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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