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History · Butler Township

Half of Butler Township’s homes were built after 2004

Most of Butler Township was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2004. Below: maps from 1925 on and old-book passages.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Butler 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 Butler Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19253 editions of the USGS map, 1925 to 1984. Watch Butler Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Butler Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Butler Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Butler Township on the map, 1925 to 1984

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

Butler Township on the 1925 USGS mapButler Township on the 1944 USGS mapButler Township on the 1984 USGS map1925Pattonsburg sheet · 1:62,500

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

The story so far

Butler Township, in brief

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

Butler Township is a township in Harrison County, Missouri, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 97. It was one of the three original townships. Butler Township has the name of Aseph M. Butler, a pioneer citizen. Butler is all part of congressional 62, range 29, lying within Harrison County.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 139 to 97 (-30%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Butler Township in 1921

Passages that mention Butler Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Butler Township, named in honor of Aseph M. Butler, included an area with the following boundaries: Beginning at the county line on the divide between Cypress and Hickory Creeks, thence north with the divide six miles to the line between sections 25 and 36, thence west with said line to the west si…
History of Harrison County, Missouri1921Read the page →
Read the text

Butler Township, named in honor of Aseph M. Butler, included an area with the following boundaries: Beginning at the county line on the divide between Cypress and Hickory Creeks, thence north with the divide six miles to the line between sections 25 and 36, thence west with said line to the west side of the county, thence south with the county line to the southwest corner of the county, thence east to the place of beginning.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
a short time in Carroll County near Brunswick, and came to Chillicothe about December 1, 1865, and to Harrison County in February, 1866, and bought a farm in Butler Township, (now Cypress Township), of 200 acres, where he made his home until 1885. He bought other land, and when he sold out, he had …
History of Harrison County, Missouri1921 · page 404Read the page →
Read the text

a short time in Carroll County near Brunswick, and came to Chillicothe about December 1, 1865, and to Harrison County in February, 1866, and bought a farm in Butler Township, (now Cypress Township), of 200 acres, where he made his home until 1885. He bought other land, and when he sold out, he had accumulated five hundred and forty acres. While living in this county, he also practiced medicine.

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

Butler Township, 1880 to 1925

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Matkins post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1907Post officeThe Matkins post office closes
  5. 1925On 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.

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Famous people

Famous people close to Butler Township

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

See all →
Wild Bill ElliottAmerican actor · b. 1904
J
John TwistScreenwriter · b. 1898
Duck DowellAmerican basketball and football player and coa… · b. 1912
Jesse N. FunkUnited States Army Medal of Honor recipient · b. 1888
John S. MurrayAmerican politician in Washington · b. 1925
M
Moose ClabaughAmerican baseball player · b. 1901
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Another post office, Matkins, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Matkins
Gone or out of use
Bodam SchoolschoolPilot Knob SchoolschoolRice Town SchoolschoolShady Dell SchoolschoolVictor Schoolschool

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.

Benton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWhite Oak TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMiller TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCypress TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAthens Township3 historic placesA−

Questions about Butler Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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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), 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.