Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1900 on and old-book passages.
The Beetown post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Flora (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Beetown’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Beetown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Beetown.
Beetown’s post office has been open since 1847. Another post office, Flora, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Beetown.
Local settler Cyrus Alexander discovered a 425 pounds (193 kg) block of lead under a bee tree, naming it bee lead, which eventually spawned the name of the town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Beetown, cut from the printed page as they were published.
of Dexbach, Grand Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. He was married to Miss Eliziibcth Bricl of the same place, who was born March 15, 1829 ; they emigrated to this country in 1854, and came to Lmcaster June 10, the same year. Mr. Schmitt is a farmer and miller by trade ; he bought a farm in Sectioni 2, town of Beetown, on which he lived until April, 1855, when he purchased of J. Allen Barber a gristmill and farm in the town of Lancaster, called Grant Mills, which he operated and tilled the farm until 1869, when owing to poor health he sold the mill and moved to the village of Lancaster ; in 187<'. he engaged in the general merchandise trade, which business he carried on in Lancaster and Fennimore until January, 1876 ; in 1870, he bought 28 acres of land in the village of Lancaster on which he built a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Clifton was created by the County Board in 1850; in the same year two tiers of sections on the west side of Town 4, Range 5, were taken off* from Cassville and added to Beetown, and sections 6 and 7 of Town 5, R. 4, were taken from Beetown and added to Patch Grove. In 1851 the towns of Muscoda and Ellenboro were organized; in 1852, Liberty; in 1853, Millville, taking most of what is now Wyalusing, a large portion of Patch Grove, and all of the pres¬ ent town of Millville. In 1854 Wyalusing and Marion were created;
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1857 Campbell, Herring & Campbell built a saw-mill in the southwest corner of Section IT) town of Beetown, on Grant River. Two or three persons besides the employees at the mill settled near the mill. Reuben Ward and Erastus Noble were among them. In 1858 Bernard Belskamper, now of Stitzer, put up a blacksmith shop there and continued in business many years. About 1858 a small school- Digitized by Google
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereCastello Newton Holford is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Beetown post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), 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.
