Following the closure of the municipal government, post office, rail station, schools, and businesses, Bailey still appears on maps of Mitchell County, but only a few farms mark the area today.

The first white person in Section 23 of Wayne Township was John Bailey, who settled there in summer 1855, and who lived there until his 1882 death.

This store only lasted a few months before relocating out of the Bailey area, and moving to the southern part of Wayne Township.

[2] Religious services around that time were held in the home of Foot, beginning in spring 1856, with Reverend Holbrook, a Methodist minister, presiding.

[2] The town plat, in Section 22 of Wayne Township,[5] divided the community into a grid of twelve blocks, with the rail line running diagonally northwest–southeast.

[4][9] In the early 1900s, the community included a bakery and grocery, an apiarist, and a dry goods store,[4] in addition to the post office, school, and the rail station.

[10] In 1911, the county atlas showed 15 buildings in the platted part of the community, including the school, railroad depot, and post office along Main Street.

[19] In 1965, The Chicago Great Western Railway, the rail line which had passed through Bailey for over 75 years, ended passenger service.

[24] Bailey was located in the northern portion of Mitchell County along the Chicago Great Western Railway, in Wayne Township.