Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bethel 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 · Bethel Township

Bethel Township’s post office opened in 1880, and 63% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1985 on.

1880first post office
0on the National Register
63%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Bethel Township began

When was Bethel Township founded?

1880

The Bethel Township post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Saybrook (1870), Bluff Centre (1873) and Bethel (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 187146 years
Founding year: the first Bethel Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Bethel 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 Bethel Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Bethel Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.Old housesHalf of Bethel Township’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bethel Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Saybrook
1870–1887
Bluff Centre
1873–1893
Bethel
1880–1886
Bluff Center
1893–1895
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bluff CenterSaybrook
Gone or out of use
Bethel SchoolschoolCircle Grove SchoolschoolDevine School Number 24schoolMethodist Episcopal Churchchurch
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bethel Township
Bethel BaptistBluff CenterSaint PatricksUnion

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

The story so far

Bethel Township, in brief

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

Its first post office opened in 1880. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 176 to 187 (+6%).

Timeline

Bethel Township, 1870 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Saybrook post office opens
  3. 1873Post officeThe Bluff Centre post office opens
  4. 1880Post officeThe Bethel post office opens
  5. 1886Post officeThe Bethel post office closes
  6. 1887Post officeThe Saybrook post office closes
  7. 1893Post officeThe Bluff Centre post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1985On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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 album
On the map

Bethel Township on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bethel Township.

Bethel Township on the 1985 USGS map1985Yankton 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 Bethel Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Pleasant Valley Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMeckling Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVolin Township8 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStar Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSpirit Mound Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bethel Township’s history

What year was Bethel Township founded?

The Bethel Township post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 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.