Its Register listings are the Horton Bay General Store, the Horton Bay House-Red Fox Inn and the Horton Bary School. Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 2000.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bay Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bay 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 Bay Township’s 41.7 sits above most of its state (90% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Bay Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Another post office, Horton Bay, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Horton BayWildwoodZenith Heights
Gone or out of use
Horton Bay Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bay Township
DyerHorton BayNorth Bay
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Bay Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bay Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bay Township is a civil township of Charlevoix County, Michigan, United States. The population was 1,142 at the 2020 census. Bay Township was established in 1887. The township contains the census-designated place of Horton Bay. The community and surrounding area were featured in several stories by Ernest Hemingway, particularly the Nick Adams stories including "The End of Something".
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,122 in 2010, 1,142 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Bay Township, 1879 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Bay Township is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. 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 Bay Township?
Three places: the Horton Bay General Store (listed 1991), the Horton Bay House-Red Fox Inn (1995) and the Horton Bary School (2001).
How old are the homes in Bay Township?
15% of Bay Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1985.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
