Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bethlehem Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Bethlehem Township

16% of Bethlehem Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1953 on.

0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Bethlehem Township’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Bethlehem Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Bethlehem Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bethlehem Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bethlehem 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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

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

Gaines Farm
1868–1878
Sparrow
1882–1901
Gaines
1883–1904
Alberta
1884–1901
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AlbertaGainesSparrow
Gone or out of use
Bethlehem SchoolschoolBlanchardlocaleFreedom SchoolschoolGreenridge SchoolschoolPretty Bob SchoolschoolRichland SchoolschoolSparrow Post Officepost officeStar SchoolschoolSurprise SchoolschoolWastell Minemine

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

The story so far

Bethlehem Township, in brief

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

Bethlehem Township is a township in Henry County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. Bethlehem Township was established in 1873, taking its name from a Baptist church of the same name within its borders. The township is located on Harry S. Truman Reservoir. Various creeks, such as Dillion Creek, Pretty Bob Creek, Dumpling Creek, also flow through the township.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 731 to 671 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Bethlehem Township, 1868 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1868Post officeThe Gaines Farm post office opens
  3. 1878Post officeThe Gaines Farm post office closes
  4. 1882Post officeThe Sparrow post office opens
  5. 1883Post officeThe Gaines post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1901Post officeThe Sparrow post office closes
  8. 1904Post officeThe Gaines post office closes
  9. 1953On 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 album
On the map

Bethlehem Township on the map, 1953 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bethlehem Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Bethlehem Township on the 1953 USGS mapBethlehem Township on the 1981 USGS map1953Gaines sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bethlehem Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Bethlehem Township

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

See all →
Virgil HillAmerican boxer · b. 1964
C
Chester A. ArnoldAmerican paleobotanist · b. 1901
Herbert SorrellAmerican trade union activist and organizer · b. 1897
P
Pat WardAmerican politician · b. 1957
Patricia BillingsAmerican sculptor and inventor · b. 1926
C
Chuck WorkmanAmerican baseball player · b. 1915
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Osage TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClinton Township6 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLeesville TownshipIts storyC−Deer Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bethlehem Township’s history

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 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.