Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Washington Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B−History
History · Washington Township

25% of Washington Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 51% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 7 old photos and papers and maps from 1923 on.

0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Washington Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Washington Township’s history

How historic is Washington Township?

B−

More historic than 51% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Washington Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Washington Township is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Washington Township’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194024.5% of homes (±3.6) · typical MO town 8.4% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MO town 2.4 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 51%
NewerOlder

Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Washington Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.6 points).

Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

The story so far

Washington Township, in brief

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

Washington Township is a township in DeKalb County, Missouri, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 1,798.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,844 to 1,798 (-2%).

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

Timeline

Washington Township, 1886 to 1923

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Bayfield post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908In the archiveWashington Mo. looking south
  5. 1910In the archiveGroup of Young Girls Working in Peerless Box Co
  6. 1917Post officeThe Bayfield post office closes
  7. 1923On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Washington Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s5 items
Washington Mo. looking south1908Washington Mo. looking southWashington Mo. looking west1908Washington Mo. looking westWashington Mo. looking east1908Washington Mo. looking east5th St. residences19085th St. residencesCedar St. residences1908Cedar St. residences
1910s2 items
Group of Young Girls Working in Peerless Box Co1910Group of Young Girls Working in Peerless Box CoGroup of Workers in Peerless Box Co1910Group of Workers in Peerless Box Co
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Washington Township on the map, 1923 to 1983

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

Washington Township on the 1923 USGS mapWashington Township on the 1983 USGS map1923Clarksdale sheet · 1:62,500

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Washington Mo. looking south
Retake this viewWashington Mo. looking south, 1908

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Washington Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Bayfield, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Bayfield
Gone or out of use
Crab Orchard SchoolschoolDean SchoolschoolFisher SchoolschoolMaple Grove ChurchchurchPleasant Grove SchoolschoolRoger SchoolschoolThornton Schoolschool
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Washington Township
ClarksdaleDe KalbPleasant GroveSilverStoneThorntonTodd

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

Help out

Finish Washington Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewWashington Mo. looking south: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Colfax TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSherman Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStewartsvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Washington Township’s history

How does Washington Township rank for history?

Washington Township is more historic than 51% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Washington Township?

25% of Washington Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1974.

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).

From the Library of Congress (7), 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.