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–Not graded
History · Somerset Township

26% of Somerset Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1964 on.

0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

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

Start Somerset Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Somerset 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.

Cleopatra
1861–1905
Ilia
1881–1906
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CleopatraIlia
Gone or out of use
Brush College SchoolschoolCleopatra SchoolschoolIllra SchoolschoolLaughlin SchoolschoolMiddleton Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Somerset Township
DureeLaughlinLowry SnyderWilder

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

The story so far

Somerset Township, in brief

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

Somerset Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. Somerset Township was established in 1857, and named after an old variant name of the community of Cleopatra, Missouri.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 90 to 92 (+2%).

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

Timeline

Somerset Township, 1861 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861Post officeThe Cleopatra post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Ilia post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905Post officeThe Cleopatra post office closes
  6. 1906Post officeThe Ilia post office closes
  7. 1964On 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

Somerset Township on the map, 1964 to 1981

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

Somerset Township on the 1964 USGS mapSomerset Township on the 1981 USGS map1964Cleopatra 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 Somerset Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

York TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMarion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRavanna TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRavannaIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Somerset 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.