On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bertrand Township is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #517 of 701 in Michigan. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bertrand 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 Bertrand Township’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.
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 (±4.7 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 Bertrand 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
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Redding's Mills
1850–1851
Dayton
1851–1967
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BakertownDayton
Gone or out of use
Dayton Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bertrand Township
DaytonHoweMcGowanPortage Prairie
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Bertrand Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Bertrand Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Bertrand was a village in the southern part of Niles Charter township on the St. Joseph River approximately 4 miles (6 km) south of the city of Niles. Joseph Bertrand, a French Canadian, had a trading post here by 1812. He had married the daughter of a Potawatomi chief and through her had acquired land. After the Potowatomi ceded their lands to the federal government with the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, Daniel G. Garnsey obtained the permission of U.S. President Andrew Jackson and the consent of Mrs. Bertrand to locate a village on her land. Alonzo Bennett platted the village of Bertrand in 1833 and became its first postmaster on June 9, 1834. The town was a stop on the Detroit-Chicago road. In…
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,657 in 2010, 2,611 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Bertrand Township, 1850 to 1967
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bertrand Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1927Niles sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bertrand Township.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Bertrand Township is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #517 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 Bertrand Township?
13% of Bertrand Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
