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History · Birch Tree

Birch Tree’s post office opened in 1858, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1912 on and the census since 1890.

1858first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Birch Tree began

When was Birch Tree founded?

1858

The Birch Tree post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 535 in 18902020 census: 541168 years
Founding year: the first Birch Tree post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Birch Tree’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 Birch Tree are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Birch Tree’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Birch Tree’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
The story

How Birch Tree came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Birch Tree.

Read it all →

A post office called Birch Tree has been in operation since the 1860s. The community was named for a grove of birch trees near the original town site.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Birch Tree, 1858 to 1982

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Birch Tree post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1934Born hereMel Carnahan is born here
  5. 1982On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Birch Tree, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Birch-Tree-post-office-mo2021Birch-Tree-post-office-moBirch-Tree-depot-mo2021Birch-Tree-depot-moBirch-Tree-caboose-mo2021Birch-Tree-caboose-moBirch-Tree-City-Hall-mo2021Birch-Tree-City-Hall-moBirch-Tree-1st-Street-mo2021Birch-Tree-1st-Street-moMOMap-doton-Birch Tree2004MOMap-doton-Birch Tree
On the map

Birch Tree on the map, 1982 to 1997

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

Birch Tree on the 1982 USGS mapBirch Tree on the 1997 USGS map1982Birch Tree 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 Birch Tree.

Every building

Birch Tree, building by building, 1912

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 sheet.

Birch Tree fire insurance map, 1912, sheet 11912Sheet 1 of 1
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

People over time

Birch Tree, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 679

Between 409 and 679 people in every census since 1890.

13 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Birch Tree’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Birch Tree’s history

What year was Birch Tree founded?

The Birch Tree post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (6), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.