Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1852.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Capac’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Capac is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Capac’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 Capac’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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.7 points). Two sources give 1857.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). 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 Capac’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Capac was founded and platted by a group of men from Romeo headed by George R. Funstan and Judge DeWitt C. Walker in 1857. The judge named it after Huayna Capac, Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire. A nearby post office named "Pinery" was transferred to and renamed "Capac" in January 1858. The Grand Trunk Railroad opened a station in 1866. Capac incorporated as a village in 1873.
Preston Tucker, designer of the 1948 Tucker Sedan, was born near Capac in 1903. Tucker is the subject of the 1988 movie Tucker: The Man and His Dream.
Roman Gribbs, mayor of Detroit from 1970 to 1974, was raised near Capac.
Passages that mention Capac, cut from the printed page as they were published.
St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people1912 · page 390Read the page →
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extinguished. Considerable work was done in Port Huron, the roadway was made through the hill over which the Military street railroad bridge was built, and some clearing and grading done. It was in anticipation of the completion of this road that the villages of Capac and Emmet were platted. Financial difficulties soon arose and the enterprise had to be abandoned, and the hopes of Port Huron for a railroad communication seemed destined never to be realized. The title to nearly all the Port
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people1912 · page 265Read the page →
Read the text
settled in the township of ^lussey and in the following year in anticipation of the construction of the Port Pluron and ]\Iilwaukee Railroad through the township platted land at the corner of the four sections 21, 22, 27, 28, into lots and blocks and called the place Capac, after the Inca Manco Capac referred to by Prescott in the Conquest of Peru. The platting was somewhat out of the ordinary as the blocks were not numbered but described as are townships in the government siu-vey. The east and west section line was taken as the base line, and the north
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.
Timeline
Capac, 1857 to 1900
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Grew from 544 people in 1880 to 1,983 in 2020, 3 times over.
14 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Capac’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Capac’s history
What year was Capac founded?
In 1857, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Capac’s post office opened in 1852, and the census of 1880 counted 544 people here.
How does Capac rank for history?
Capac is more historic than 49% 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.
How old are the homes in Capac?
29% of Capac’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
![settled in the township of ^lussey and in the following year in anticipation of the construction of the Port Pluron and ]\Iilwaukee Railroad through the township platted land at the corner of the four sections 21, 22, 27, 28, into lots and blocks and called the place Capac, after the Inca Manco Cap…](https://images.townratings.com/story/7859/bk-52831aa8fd88f4c0-l.jpg)
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