Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Brown Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Brown Township

Brown Township dates to 1855, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1956 on.

1855founded
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Brown Township began

When was Brown Township founded?

1855

Brown Township dates its founding to 1855 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1858.

2020 census: 704171 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1858.

What stands out about Brown Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Brown Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Brown Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Brown Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Brown Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Portage Creek
1858–1863
Norwalk
1863–1968
Brown
1872–1874
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Norwalk
Gone or out of use
Norwalk Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Brown Township
BrownstownMillerNorwalk Lutheran ChurchPleasant ViewRiverview

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Brown Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Brown Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Brown Township is a civil township of Manistee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 704. It was organized in 1855.

Brown Township was established in 1855. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 747 to 704 (-6%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Brown Township, 1855 to 1968

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1855
    FoundingBrown Township is established
  3. 1858Post officeThe Portage Creek post office opens
  4. 1863Post officeThe Portage Creek post office closes
  5. 1863Post officeThe Norwalk post office opens
  6. 1872Post officeThe Brown post office opens
  7. 1874Post officeThe Brown post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1968Post officeThe Norwalk post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Brown Township on the map, 1956 to 1982

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Brown Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Brown Township on the 1956 USGS mapBrown Township on the 1982 USGS map1956Onekama 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 Brown Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Bear Lake TownshipIts storyC+Dickson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStronach Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townManistee Township1 historic placeA−

Questions about Brown Township’s history

What year was Brown Township founded?

In 1855, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Brown Township’s post office opened in 1858.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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) 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.