The story
Read it all →How Bad Nation Township came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Bad Nation Township.
The township has the name of Bad Nation, a Native American chieftain.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Bad Nation Township
Bad Nation Township’s post office opened in 1938, and 71% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1982 on.
1938first post office
0on the National Register
71%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Bad Nation Township began
When was Bad Nation Township founded?
1938
The Bad Nation Township post office opened in 1938, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Runningville (1916) and Badnation (1938), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 3188 years
Founding year: the first Bad Nation Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Bad Nation 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 Bad Nation Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Bad Nation Township’s homes were built before 1938.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Bad Nation Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Bad Nation Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bad Nation Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Runningville
Badnation
19101970today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Badnation
Gone or out of use
Runningvillelocale
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Bad Nation Township, 1916 to 1982
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Add from your albumOn the map
Bad Nation Township on the map in 1982
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bad Nation Township.
1982Badnation SE sheet · 1:25,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bad Nation Township.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Bad Nation Township’s history
What year was Bad Nation Township founded?
The Bad Nation Township post office opened in 1938, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikipedia, 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.