Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns · #404 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Coldwater Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1960 on, and the census since 1870.
Coldwater Township dates its founding to 1837 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Coldwater Township is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #404 of 701 in Michigan. Its age 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 Coldwater 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: 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.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveFamily record - executed with a steel pen by J.S. Conover, Coldwater, Mich
In the archiveGeorge Starr House
In the archiveBranch County Community Health Center, Coldwater, Michigan (68047)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Coldwater Township.
American settlers first moved into the area around 1830, with many arriving from New York and New England. Coldwater was incorporated as a village in 1837, and then incorporated by the legislature as a city in 1861. It was designated in 1842 as the county seat of Branch County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1906George Starr House
1908Greetings from Coldwater, Mich. Chicago Avenue
1908Greetings from Coldwater, Mich. High school
1908Greetings from Coldwater, Mich. Court housec. 1930Branch County Community Health Center, Coldwater, Mic…
c. 1930Breezy cove on Morrison Lake, Coldwater, Mich (70036)
c. 1930Emmet's Landing, on Morrison Lake, Coldwater, Mich (7…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Coldwater 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 Coldwater 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 Coldwater Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 4,381 people in 1870 to 13,822 in 2020, 3 times over.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Coldwater 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 1837, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1870 counted 4,381 people here.
Coldwater Township is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #404 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.
7% of Coldwater Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (6), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1869
