Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1826.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Algonac’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Algonac is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #303 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Algonac’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 Algonac’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1805.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points).
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 Algonac’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Long occupied by Native American tribes, Algonac was settled in 1805 by European American John Martin, in the newly-organized Michigan Territory. The area had been known by French colonists, the first Europeans to settle here, as Pointe Du Chêne ("oak point", because of local trees). The later British colonists called it Manchester. In 1836, it was the fourth village laid out by Americans along the St. Clair River. Its present name was coined by Henry Schoolcraft and applied to the area in 1843.
Passages that mention Algonac, cut from the printed page as they were published.
St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people1912 · page 265Read the page →
Read the text
In 1867 the community was large enough to warrant incorporation, and application was made in conformity with the statute, to the board of supervisors, and at their October session of that j'ear they authorized the incorporation of the village of Algonac to comprise the south half of fractional section 2, the southeast cjuarter of section 3, and all of fractional sections 10 and 11 in the township of Clay.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people1912 · page 124Read the page →
Read the text
At the same session it was declared expedient to appropriate money for bridges, and $150 was appropriated to build a causeway across the marsh from Louis Chartier's (near Algonac) to Swan creek, and the sum of $70 to build a bridge across Pine river on the road leading from the Hoxie road by Cox's to the Fort Gratiot turnpike. This was the bridge across Pine river, on the so-called .state road, which crosses the turnpike at Rattle Run and leads to the Hoxsie settlement later called Romeo.
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.
Timeline
Algonac, 1805 to 1914
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born 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.
In 1805, according to Wikidata. Algonac’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1870 counted 754 people here.
How does Algonac rank for history?
Algonac is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #303 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.
How old are the homes in Algonac?
15% of Algonac’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (14), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
1910
1910
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023
2019
2016
2016
2014
2013
2012
2005