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History · Dover Township

Half of Dover Township’s homes were built after 1987

Most of Dover Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: 3 old photos and papers and maps from 1886 on.

0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dover Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Dover Township’s past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Dover Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18865 editions of the USGS map, 1886 to 1991. Watch Dover Township change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Round Prairie
1867–1873
Sand Stone
1867–1901
Warwick
1875–1888
Bellamy
1883–1907
Ryther
1902–1903
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BellamyRousertownSandstone
Gone or out of use
Bellamy SchoolschoolFrazier SchoolschoolPhillips SchoolschoolPleasant Plain SchoolschoolRound Prairie SchoolschoolScience Hill SchoolschoolWarwick Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Dover Township
Dunnegan GroveOlive BranchTolsonWarwick

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

Help out

Start Dover Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo3 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewMethodist Church: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Dover Township on the map, 1886 to 1991

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

Dover Township on the 1886 USGS mapDover Township on the 1894 USGS mapDover Township on the 1962 USGS mapDover Township on the 1986 USGS mapDover Township on the 1991 USGS map1886Nevada sheet · 1:125,000

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

The story so far

Dover Township, in brief

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

Dover Township is a township in Vernon County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. Dover Township was erected in 1872. Dover Township is located in southwestern Vernon County. The origin of its name is unknown, although a 1933 study of Missouri place names suggested that it may ultimately derive from Dover, England, either through another American place of that name or from the surname Dover.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 529 to 451 (-15%).

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

Timeline

Dover Township, 1867 to 1901

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1867Post officeThe Round Prairie post office opens
  3. 1867Post officeThe Sand Stone post office opens
  4. 1873Post officeThe Round Prairie post office closes
  5. 1875Post officeThe Warwick post office opens
  6. 1886On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1888Post officeThe Warwick post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1901Post officeThe Sand Stone post office closes
By decade

Dover Township, decade by decade

Date unknown3 to date
Methodist ChurchDate?Methodist ChurchChristian ChurchDate?Christian ChurchBrick HouseDate?Brick House
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Methodist Church
Retake this viewMethodist Church

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dover Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Dover Township

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

See all →
John HustonAmerican film director, screenwriter, and actor · b. 1906
Eva BowringAmerican politician · b. 1892
C
C. Jay CoxAmerican screenwriter and director · b. 1962
F
Forrest DeBernardiAmerican basketball player · b. 1899
E
Eugene MacCownAmerican painter, pianist, writer and translator · b. 1898
F
Floyd WooldridgeBaseball player · b. 1928
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Montevallo TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDoylesport TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDrywood TownshipIts storyC+Badger TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVirgil TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Dover 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 the Library of Congress (3), 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.