From Cross Village Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Cross Village Township began
When was Cross Village Township founded?
1870
The Cross Village Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Sturgeonbay (1897) and Sturgeon Bay (1908), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 240156 years
Founding year: the first Cross Village Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Cross Village Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Cross Village
1870–today
Sturgeonbay
1897–1905
Sturgeon Bay
1908–1912
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cross Village
Gone or out of use
Sturgeon Bay Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Cross Village Township
Cross VillageHoly CrossIndian
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Cross Village Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cross Village Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Cross Village is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Emmet County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a population of 93. It is located within Cross Village Township on the shores of Lake Michigan. Cross village had been established by the Natives in the area. The cross was a symbol of the sacred fire. Some of the religious First Nations were sent over to Europe to further practice christianity.
Its first post office opened in 1870. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 281 to 240 (-15%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Cross Village Township, 1870 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cross Village Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1958Pellston 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 Cross Village Township.
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.
Retake this viewCross Village, MI location
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cross Village Township’s page.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.
Date?
2022
