Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #339 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Croton Hydroelectric Plant. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1958 on, and old-book passages.
The Croton Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Stearn's Mills (1847) and Croton (1850), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Croton Township is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #339 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Croton Township’s 2.9 sits above most of its state (72% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Croton Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Croton Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Croton Township is a civil township of Newaygo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,368 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1850. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,228 to 3,368 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Croton Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Croton Township was called Newaygo until 1855. It was organized under that name in 1851, at the same time with Brooks Township, and then included the eastern half of the county. It was cut down to form Big Prairie, Ensley and other townships, until it contained but a township and a half. It remained of this size until 1880, when half a township became a part of Brooks Township, and Croton was reduced
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
years, sold out and went to Casnovia Township, where he bought 80 acres of land. After 18 months he again disposed of his property, and in 1855 came to Croton Township for a permanent settlement. He bought a farm containing 240 acres, situated on sections 22 and 23, where he operated successfully.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Croton 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 Croton 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 Croton Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 Croton Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Croton Township post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Croton Township is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #339 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.
One place: the Croton Hydroelectric Plant (listed 1979).
13% of Croton Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1990.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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