Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1943 on and old-book passages.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Union Township’s history is told.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Union Township.
Union Township was established in May 1856 when the northern portion of Polk Township was split off because of a court order. In 1871, Hopkins Township was created out of it.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Union Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first settlers in Union Township were William and James Ingels. They came in the year 1841, and settled at White Oak Grove, about two miles below where the town of Xenia afterward stood. The attractions offered to them by the grove, in the way of protection from the winds, and timber and fuel for farm and household purposes, determined their location there.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The next settlement in Union Township was made by Dr. Josiah Coleman, who entered the land where Pickering is now located. This is a most delightful situation, on the rolling prairie as it rises out of the first terrace, some three-quarters of a mile from the One Hundred and Two River. Here Dr. Coleman opened a farm, and administered professionally to those who came and settled around him. He afterward sold his farm, disposing of the portion on which the town of Pickering now stands to Judge Andrew Royal, and went to Kansas.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Union Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Union Township.
Nobody well known was born in Union Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2025