The Bethany post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1860. Another post office, Bethpage (1846), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 994 in 18802020 census: 2,915176 years
How historic is Bethany?
B−
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Bethany post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1860.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bethany’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bethany is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #115 of 247 in Missouri. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bethany’s overall grade.
Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bethany’s 3.2 sits near the middle of its state (57% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1860 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Bethany’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1892Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
James W. Casebolt attended his first school in the old brick school house in Bethany, and later at Double Oak in Jefferson Township, then in the old ground hog and the Woollond south of Bethany, and, after sixteen years of age, worked for different people. After his marriage, he worked rented farms in this county. He eventually purchased twenty acres of land, and later thirty and one-half acres, which he improved and later traded for property in Bethany where he now lives, and, since moving to Bethany, he has been engaged in bridge work, and has also run a jitney,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
home at Monroe and became foreman in his father's Lumber yard. He remained in that capacity until 1880 when he in partnership with Captain Benjamin Frees, established the Miner and Frees Lumber business at Bethany, Missouri. At that time there was no railroad in Harrison County and their first lumber was hauled from Lamoni, Iowa by wagons to Bethany, Missouri. This was the beginning of the Miner and Frees lumber business, which in forty years has reached its present magnitude and has become one of the important business concerns, not only of
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, 1846 to 1984
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Bethany’s post office has been open since 1850. Another post office, Bethpage, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Bethpage
1846–1850
Bethany
1850–today
18401930today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Bethany’s history
What year was Bethany founded?
The Bethany post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1860.
How does Bethany rank for history?
Bethany is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #115 of 247 in Missouri. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Bethany?
One place: the Hamilton House (listed 1985).
How old are the homes in Bethany?
16% of Bethany’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1961.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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