Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #535 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Thornapple River Drive Bridge and the Whitney Tavern Stand. Most of Cascade Township was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: maps from 1918 on.
Cascade Township dates its founding to 1853 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1849.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cascade Township is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #535 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Cascade Township’s 1.0 sits above most of its state (66% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
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 Cascade Township’s history is told.
Four 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Cascade Township.
The township was originally a part of Ada Township and was separately organized in 1848.
The Whitney Tavern Stand is located within the township. It was built in 1853 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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 Survey
BuiltThornapple River Drive Bridge is builtEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cascade 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 Cascade Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Cascade Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1853, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Cascade Township’s post office opened in 1849.
Cascade Township is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #535 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.
Two places: the Thornapple River Drive Bridge (listed 1990) and the Whitney Tavern Stand (2007).
2% of Cascade Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1983.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.
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