Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1880.
Clam Lake Township dates its founding to 1877 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 30% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clam Lake Township is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Clam Lake 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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Two 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 Clam Lake Township.
European explorers and fur traders visited this area from the 18th century, most of them initially French and French-Canadians who traded with regional Native Americans. More permanent communities were not established until the late 19th century. Initial settlements developed from logging camps and the logging industry.
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.
In the archiveCadillac, Michigan (circa 1880s)
In the archiveWilliam W Mitchell Cadillac MI
In the archivePhotograph of Forest Entrance Portal on N-55 West of Cadillac
In the archivePhotograph of a Toboggan
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1880sCadillac, Michigan (circa 1880s)1900William W Mitchell Cadillac MI
1904Photograph of Logging Camp at Work
c. 1908Cadillac Big Wheels1938Photograph of Forest Entrance Portal on N-55 West of …
1938Photograph of Forest Entrance Portal on N-55 West of …
1939Photograph of Caberfae Block
1939Photograph of Caberfae Block
1939Photograph of Caberfae Block
2017Cadillac, Michigan 1971 Commemorative Plate reverse
2015Visiting Rec Boat Holdings in Cadillac
2015Big Lots
2014Ice Racing
2012Greetings from Cadillac, Michigan - Large Letter Post…Document
20102010 Census Urban Cluster Reference Map for Cadillac,…Book
2007Cadillac MSA
2006Downtown Pic 02
2006Cadillac Lakeside District
2006Cadillac Fountain
2006Cadillac City Park
2006Cadillac City Park 2
2005MIMap-doton-CadillacEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clam Lake 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 Clam Lake Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Clam Lake Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 2,213 and 10,425 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clam Lake Township’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1877, according to Wikidata. Clam Lake Township’s post office opened in 1876, and the census of 1880 counted 2,213 people here.
Clam Lake Township is more historic than 30% 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.
10% of Clam Lake Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 (23), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
