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History · Liberty Township

45% of Liberty Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1939 on.

0on the National Register
45%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Liberty Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Liberty Township’s past

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

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Liberty Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Liberty Township’s homes were built before 1963.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Omaha
1860–1908
Chariton
1883–1907
Glendale
1891–1905
Iesper
1893–1904
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CharitonEsperGlendaleOmaha
Gone or out of use
Abbott SchoolschoolBerry SchoolschoolFriendship SchoolschoolPetty SchoolschoolShoney SchoolschoolWells Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Liberty Township
BerryMcCuneMitchellShipleyShoneySummers

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

Help out

Start Liberty Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewRuins of jail where Joseph Smith, Hyrum…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Liberty Township, in brief

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

Liberty Township is a township in northeastern Putnam County, Missouri. The organization date and origin of the name of Liberty Township is unknown.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 218 to 195 (-11%).

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

Timeline

Liberty Township, 1860 to 1939

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1860Post officeThe Omaha post office opens
  3. 1883Post officeThe Chariton post office opens
  4. 1891Post officeThe Glendale post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1904In the archiveRuins of jail where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and other Mormon leaders were imprisoned
  7. 1905Post officeThe Glendale post office closes
  8. 1907Post officeThe Chariton post office closes
  9. 1908Post officeThe Omaha post office closes
  10. 1939On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Liberty Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Ruins of jail where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and other Mormon leaders were imprisoned1904Ruins of jail where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and ot…
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Liberty Township on the map, 1939 to 1980

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

Liberty Township on the 1939 USGS mapLiberty Township on the 1941 USGS mapLiberty Township on the 1980 USGS map1939Centerville 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 Liberty Township.

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.

Ruins of jail where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and other Mormon leaders were imprisoned
Retake this viewRuins of jail where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and other Mormon leaders were imprisoned, 1904

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Liberty Township

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

See all →
Simon EstesAmerican opera singer · b. 1938
Farrell DobbsAmerican labour organizer, left-wing politician… · b. 1907
Rupert HughesAmerican writer · b. 1872
Claude PaytonAmerican actor · b. 1882
Don C. EdwardsAmerican politician · b. 1861
R
Richard DudmanAmerican journalist · b. 1918
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Grant TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLincoln TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townElm TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Liberty 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 (1), 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.