Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1959 on and old-book passages.
The Beaver Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Beaver (1872), Volney (1880) and Shaw (1897), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Beaver Township’s history is told.
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Beaver Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Beaver Township is a civil township of Newaygo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 463.
Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 509 to 463 (-9%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Beaver Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the age of 20 years, when he came to Lapeer County and worked as a saw-mill hand about ten months, after which he came to Newaygo County and bought 60 acres of land in Beaver Township. It was in the midst of a vast wilderness, the forest having never re-echoed the sound of preparation for permanent settlement previous to his location there. He now has 33 acres under cultivation, with creditable farm
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
age of 16 years, when he learned the trade of wagonmaker, which was his vocation up to the date of his settlement in Newaygo County. He bought a farm in Beaver Township, where he located May 22, 1863. When he made his claim of 160 acres of land his resources were small, and his working capital repre¬ sented an amount that would be judged absurd in view of its forming the basis of future successes in
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Beaver Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Beaver Township.
Nobody well known was born in Beaver Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Beaver Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
