Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of White Oak Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
White Oak Township is a township in Harrison County, Missouri, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 461. White Oak Township was erected in September 1860. White Oak Township takes its name from White Oak Creek.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 529 to 461 (-13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about White Oak Township in 1921
Passages that mention White Oak Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Harrison County, Missouri1921 · page 514Read the page →
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Lucy D. Young received her preliminary education in the public schools of White Oak Township, and at Albany, and afterward attended the Kirksville State Teachers College. After finishing her education, she taught her first school at the Burton school house and then next taught the second primary department in Bethany in 1877-1879. She then taught in Harrison and Gentry Counties, three years in Oregon State, and one year in Comanche County, Kansas, and then took a claim near Heppner, Morrow County, Oregon, and taught there while prov-
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History of Harrison County, Missouri1921 · page 367Read the page →
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John W. Virden was a native of Delaware, but came to Harrison County in 1839 and settled in White Oak Township, and was the first settler here. The first hogs he raised on his farm, he drove to Weston, Missouri, where he had them slaughtered and sold them dressed for $1,25 per hundred weight. He took a wagon loaded with corn, drawn by oxen, to feed the hogs while on the way to Weston. The nearest neighbor to Mr. Virdon in the early days, was a Mr. Daley, who lived on the town site of Albany. At that time, there were no matches, and once, when
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of White Oak Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1986Maryville sheet · 1:100,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of White Oak Township.
Famous people
Famous people close to White Oak Township
Nobody well known was born in White Oak Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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 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.
