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History · Harrison Township

20% of Harrison Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1944 on and the census since 1890.

0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940

What stands out about Harrison Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Harrison Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

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

Hudsonville
1858–1904
Glendale
1866–1907
Waco
1891–1902
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GlendaleHudsonvilleWaco
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Harrison Township
East UnionEbenezerSaint Patricks Glencoe

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

The story

How Harrison Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Harrison Township.

Read it all →

Harrison Township was organized in June 1841 out of parts of Reave and Veale townships. Its first settlers were Lewis and William Jones, who came from South Carolina in 1812 and were soon joined by many other families from the Palmetto State.

The Glendale Ridge Archaeological Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Harrison Township, 1858 to 1944

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Hudsonville post office opens
  3. 1866Post officeThe Glendale post office opens
  4. 1891Post officeThe Waco post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1902Post officeThe Waco post office closes
  7. 1904Post officeThe Hudsonville post office closes
  8. 1907Post officeThe Glendale post office closes
  9. 1944On 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.

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On the map

Harrison Township on the map, 1944 to 1988

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

Harrison Township on the 1944 USGS mapHarrison Township on the 1958 USGS mapHarrison Township on the 1974 USGS mapHarrison Township on the 1988 USGS map1944Glendale 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 Harrison Township.

People over time

Harrison Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,300

Between 485 and 1,300 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Harrison Township’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Harrison Township

Nobody well known was born in Harrison Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Harrison 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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.