On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Byron Township is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #685 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Byron 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 Byron 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 (±1.2 points) is firm at this size.
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 Byron 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
Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Buck Creek
1856–1869
North Byron
1862–1903
Cody's Mills
1867–1871
Byron Centre
1869–1893
Corinth
1871–1899
Ross
1871–1922
West Carlisle
1884–1910
Byron Center
1893–today
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Byron CenterByron Center Mobile VillageCarlisleCorinthMaplewood Mobile Home ParkNorth ByronNorth DorrRoss
Gone or out of use
Byron Center StationlocaleCorinth Post Officepost officeNorth Byron Post Officepost officeRoss Post Officepost officeWest Carlisle Post Officepost office
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Byron Township
BoyntonKent Memorial GardensSaint Sebastian's CatholicWeaverWinchesterWinegar
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Byron Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Byron Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Byron Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1914Grand Rapids 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 Byron Township.
The story so far
Byron Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Byron Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Byron Township is a civil township of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 26,927 at the 2020 census, an increase from 20,317 at the 2010 census. Byron Township is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area and is located just southwest of the city of Grand Rapids.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 20,317 to 26,927 (+33%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Byron Township, 1856 to 1914
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Byron Township is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #685 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 Byron Township?
2% of Byron Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1998.
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.
