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History · Nashville Township

Nashville Township’s post office opened in 1861, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1886 on.

1861first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Nashville Township began

When was Nashville Township founded?

1861

The Nashville Township post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Nashville (1861) and Duval (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 358165 years
Founding year: the first Nashville Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Nashville 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 Nashville Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18865 editions of the USGS map, 1886 to 1991. Watch Nashville Township change.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Nashville Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Nashville Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Nashville 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

Nashville Township on the map, 1886 to 1991

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

Nashville Township on the 1886 USGS mapNashville Township on the 1894 USGS mapNashville Township on the 1962 USGS mapNashville Township on the 1986 USGS mapNashville Township on the 1991 USGS map1886Carthage 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 Nashville Township.

Places that used to be

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

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

Nashville
1861–1959
Duval
1891–1902
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Nashville
Gone or out of use
Diamond SchoolschoolDuval SchoolschoolNashville SchoolschoolNorth Star SchoolschoolPleasant Hill SchoolschoolPleasant View SchoolschoolPrairie Bell SchoolschoolShapley SchoolschoolUnion Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Nashville Township
NashvillePierceShapley

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

The story so far

Nashville Township, in brief

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

Nashville is a small unincorporated community in southwestern Barton County one mile north of the Barton-Jasper county line, near the western border of Missouri, United States. It is on Missouri Route AA one mile west of Route 43. The community is approximately twelve miles southwest of Lamar and 22 miles north of Joplin. Developed in a rural, farming area, Nashville was platted in 1869 after the American Civil War. The name is a transfer from Nashville, Tennessee. A post office called Nashville had been established in 1861, and remained in operation until 1959. Harlow Shapley was born at Nashville in 1885. He became a notable American astronomer and was director of the Harvard College Obse…

Its first post office opened in 1861. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 390 to 358 (-8%).

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

Timeline

Nashville Township, 1861 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861Post officeThe Nashville post office opens
  3. 1886On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1891Post officeThe Duval post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902Post officeThe Duval post office closes
  7. 1959Post officeThe Nashville post office closes
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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Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Northfork TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCentral TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSouth West TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Nashville Township’s history

What year was Nashville Township founded?

The Nashville Township post office opened in 1861, 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 →
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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.