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History · Prairie Township

18% of Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Papinville Marais des Cygnes River Bridge. Below: maps from 1934 on.

1on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Prairie 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 Prairie Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Prairie Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Prairie Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Prairie 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

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

Papinsville
1848–1906
Prairie City
1858–1903
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
PapinvillePrairie City
Gone or out of use
German Reformed ChurchchurchMission Branch SchoolschoolNumber 1 BridgebridgeNumber 2 BridgebridgeNumber 3 BridgebridgePapinsville SchoolschoolPrairie City SchoolschoolSeelinger Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Prairie Township
Prairie City

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

The story so far

Prairie Township, in brief

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

Prairie Township is one of twenty-four townships in Bates County, Missouri, and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area within the USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 153. The township derives its name from the community of Prairie City, Missouri.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 137 to 146 (+7%).

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

Timeline

Prairie Township, 1848 to 1934

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Papinsville post office opens
  3. 1858Post officeThe Prairie City post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1903Post officeThe Prairie City post office closes
  6. 1906Post officeThe Papinsville post office closes
  7. 1934On 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

Prairie Township on the map, 1934 to 1991

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

Prairie Township on the 1934 USGS mapPrairie Township on the 1963 USGS mapPrairie Township on the 1991 USGS map1934Papinsville sheet · 1:24,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Prairie Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2002
Papinville Marais des Cygnes River Bridge
Papinville Marais des Cygnes River Bridge
Structures

Architectural styles listings

Pinned Pratt Through Truss1
Papinville Marais des Cygnes River BridgePinned Pratt Through Truss

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Blue Mound TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant Gap TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRockville TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOsage TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about Prairie Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Prairie Township?

One place: the Papinville Marais des Cygnes River Bridge (listed 2002).

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 National Register of Historic Places (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.