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History · Lindley Township

Half of Lindley Township’s homes were built after 1972

Most of Lindley Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: maps from 1954 on.

0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Lindley 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 Lindley Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lindley Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lindley Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lindley 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, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Saline
1857–1937
Adell
1874–1904
Wataga
1886–1907
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AdelBurrowsSalineWataga
Gone or out of use
Cavanaugh SchoolschoolCenter SchoolschoolHickory Grove SchoolschoolHutchinson SchoolschoolJones SchoolschoolKeller SchoolschoolNew Zion SchoolschoolToad Valley SchoolschoolWest White SchoolschoolWillis Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lindley Township
EastinFairviewFoglemanPleasant HillSouth

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

The story so far

Lindley Township, in brief

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

Lindley Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. Lindley Township was established in 1856 (1856), and most likely was named after James Johnson Lindley, a state legislator.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 120 to 129 (+8%).

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

Timeline

Lindley Township, 1857 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Saline post office opens
  3. 1874Post officeThe Adell post office opens
  4. 1886Post officeThe Wataga post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1904Post officeThe Adell post office closes
  7. 1907Post officeThe Wataga post office closes
  8. 1937Post officeThe Saline post office closes
  9. 1954On 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.
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On the map

Lindley Township on the map, 1954 to 1981

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

Lindley Township on the 1954 USGS mapLindley Township on the 1977 USGS mapLindley Township on the 1981 USGS map1954Centerville sheet · 1:250,000

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Lindley Township

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

See all →
Calamity JaneAmerican scout and frontierswoman · b. 1852
Arthur M. HydeAmerican politician · b. 1877
John McConnellAmerican environmentalist · b. 1915
Leith StevensAmerican music composer and conductor · b. 1909
Mervin Joe KellyAmerican physicist · b. 1894
Beulah PoynterAmerican actor, writer and playwright · b. 1883
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Clay TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMarion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHarrison TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMorgan Township1 historic placeA−Madison TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lindley Township’s history

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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) 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.