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BHistory
History · Conway Township

Conway Township’s post office opened in 1842, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #271 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it

Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1908 on.

1842first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Conway Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Conway Township began

When was Conway Township founded?

1842

The Conway Township post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Conway (1842), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 3,608184 years

How historic is Conway Township?

B

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Conway Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Conway Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Conway Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #271 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Conway Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1842, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194018.2% of homes (±6.9) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MI town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 61%
NewerOlder
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 61%

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 Conway 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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 Conway Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19083 editions of the USGS map, 1908 to 1973. Watch Conway Township change.Deep rootsA post office since 1842: 184 years of Conway Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Conway Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Conway Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewConway Township, MI location: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Conway Township on the map, 1908 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Conway Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Conway Township on the 1908 USGS mapConway Township on the 1910 USGS mapConway Township on the 1973 USGS map1908Fowlerville 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 Conway Township.

Timeline

Conway Township, 1842 to 1908

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1842Post officeThe Conway post office opens
  3. 1870Post officeThe Conway post office closes
  4. 1895In the archiveStandard atlas of Livingston County, Michigan - including a plat book of the villages, ci…
  5. 20th century
  6. 1908On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Conway Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Conway Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Conway Township is a civil township of Livingston County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,608 at the 2020 census, an increase from 3,546 at the 2010 census.

Its first post office opened in 1842. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 3,546 in 2010, 3,608 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Conway Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Standard atlas of Livingston County, Michigan - including a plat book of the villages, cities and townships of the coun…1895Standard atlas of Livingston County, Michigan - inclu…Map
1900s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Date unknown1 to date
Conway Township, MI locationDate?Conway Township, MI location
Today1 recent
Conway Township hall (Michigan)2023Conway Township hall (Michigan)
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Conway Township, MI location
Retake this viewConway Township, MI location

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Conway Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Conway Township

Nobody well known was born in Conway Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Charlie GehringerAmerican baseball player · b. 1903
Adam CoonAmerican football player and wrestler · b. 1994
Erik JonesAmerican racing driver · b. 1996
Patricia DonnellyMiss America in 1939 · b. 1919
S
Stewart "Dirk" FischerAmerican jazz musician · b. 1924
R
Russell L. MixterAmerican biologist · b. 1906
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Another post office, Conway, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Nicholson
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Conway Township
Conway Antrim BaptistConway BenjaminConway KleinConway MillerCoughran

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Locke TownshipIts storyC+Handy TownshipIts storyCCohoctah TownshipIts storyB−Antrim TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about Conway Township’s history

What year was Conway Township founded?

The Conway Township post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Conway Township rank for history?

Conway Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #271 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 Conway Township?

18% of Conway Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1992.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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), 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.