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History · Prairie Township

26% of Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1897 on.

0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Prairie 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 Prairie Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18974 editions of the USGS map, 1897 to 1985. Watch Prairie Township change.Old housesHalf of Prairie Township’s homes were built before 1951.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Prairie Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Prairie 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
On the map

Prairie Township on the map, 1897 to 1985

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

Prairie Township on the 1897 USGS mapPrairie Township on the 1900 USGS mapPrairie Township on the 1968 USGS mapPrairie Township on the 1985 USGS map1897Canton sheet · 1:125,000

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

The story so far

Prairie Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Prairie 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 240 to 262 (+9%).

Timeline

Prairie Township, 1873 to 1897

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Gothland post office opens
  3. 1891Post officeThe Gothland post office closes
  4. 1897On 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.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Gone or out of use
School Number 57schoolSunnysidelocale
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Prairie Township
BeresfordBeresford Memorial ParkEmmanuel LutheranGothlandSaint John's

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.

Beresford4 historic placesB+Alcester TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEmmet Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGlenwood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Prairie Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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.