Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bailey 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
–Not graded
History · Bailey Township

100% of Bailey Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1952 on.

0on the National Register
100%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Bailey 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bailey Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bailey Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewHand County, South Dakota (1892): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Bailey Township, in brief

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

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 14 to 15 (+7%).

Timeline

Bailey Township, 1892 to 1952

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892In the archiveHand County, South Dakota (1892)
  3. 1894Post officeThe Dirkstown post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905Post officeThe Dirkstown post office closes
  6. 1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Bailey Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Hand County, South Dakota (1892)1892Hand County, South Dakota (1892)
1900s–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

Bailey Township on the map, 1952 to 1986

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

Bailey Township on the 1952 USGS mapBailey Township on the 1986 USGS map1952Reliance SW 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 Bailey 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.

Hand County, South Dakota (1892)
Retake this viewHand County, South Dakota (1892), 1892

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Gone or out of use
Dirkstownlocale
1cemetery inside Bailey Township
Huffunugs

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Rex TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bailey Township’s history

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), 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.