Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1835.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Adrian Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Adrian Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #180 of 701 in Michigan. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Adrian Township’s overall grade.
Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Adrian Township’s 1.6 sits above most of its state (68% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.9 points). Two sources give 1826.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Adrian Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Wolf Creek
1835–1866
North Adrian
1839–1860
Wolf Creek
1892–1903
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Robin Hood Mobile Court
Gone or out of use
Wolfcreek Post Officepost office
11cemeteries and burying grounds inside Adrian Township
Adrian CenterBaurHicksite FriendsLenawee Hills Memorial ParkNorth AdrianRaisin Valley FriendsSaint Johns LutheranSaint Joseph's CatholicWeaver GravesWest AdrianWoerner
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Adrian Township, 1826 to 1988
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Adrian was founded on June 18, 1826, by Addison Comstock. The original name for the village was Logan, but was changed soon after to Adrian, perhaps in reference to the Roman emperor Hadrian. The first operating railroad in Michigan was a horse-drawn train running between Adrian and Toledo in 1836. Adrian grew quickly, with the sixth largest population in the state when Michigan was admitted to the Union in 1837, and the third largest population in the state by 1860. Adrian was incorporated as a village on March 28, 1836, then as a city on January 31, 1853.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Adrian Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1962Adrian 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 Adrian Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewErie and Kalamazoo Banknote 1853, 1853
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Adrian Township’s page.
In 1826, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Adrian Township’s post office opened in 1835, and the census of 1850 counted 2,219 people here.
How does Adrian Township rank for history?
Adrian Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #180 of 701 in Michigan. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Adrian Township?
One place: the Raisin Valley Friends Meetinghouse (listed 1982).
How old are the homes in Adrian Township?
13% of Adrian Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1977.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (17), the Library of Congress (10), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
1853
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1853
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c. 1855
c. 1855
c. 1855
1869
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1963
1988
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2010
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