Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Davison Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
C+History
History · Davison Township

Davison Township’s post office opened in 1864, and 4 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 38% of U.S. towns · #493 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it

Most of Davison Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: 5 old photos and papers from 1899 on and the census since 1880.

1864first post office
4on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Davison Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Davison Township began

When was Davison Township founded?

1864

The Davison Township post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Davison (1864) and Davison Station (1872), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 163 in 18802020 census: 20,434162 years

How historic is Davison Township?

C+

More historic than 38% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Davison Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Davison Township is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #493 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Davison Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1864, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.8% of homes (±1.2) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register4 listings, 2.0 per 10,000 residents · typical MI town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 38%
NewerOlder
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 30%

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 Davison Township’s 2.0 sits above most of its state (69% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 points) is firm at this size. 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 Davison Township’s past

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

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Davison Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Davison
1864–1873
Davison Station
1872–1893
Davison
1893–today
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Chateau Old Orchard Mobile Home ParkChateau Timber Heights Mobile Home ParkDavison East Mobile Estates
Gone or out of use
Athelone Williams Memorial Airportairport
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Davison Township
DavisonPine Grove Historical

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

On the National Register

4 historic places in Davison Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Atlas Grange Hall
Atlas Grange HallBarn at 4277 Irish RoadHouse at 1339 Cummings RoadJohn McAra House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Queen Anne1
Atlas Grange HallBuilding
Barn at 4277 Irish RoadBuilding
House at 1339 Cummings RoadGreek Revival
John McAra HouseQueen Anne

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Davison Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Davison Township.

Read it all →

Township section 3, 9 and 10 was Davison Station, which was first settled in 1842 by Eleazer Thurston in section 10. The line of the Chicago and Lake Huron Railroad (now Canadian National Railway) through the settlement was finished in 1871 marked the beginning of Davison Station. The first saw mill in the township was also built here that year by Dunn and Darling. The township and the settlement had in 1872 a number of firsts: doctor, L. W. Hanson, merchant Damon Stewart and tavern owned and operated by Henry S. Rising. On April 10, 1872, Davison Station post office open with Stewart as the postmaster. The Free Will Baptist Church, formed in 1859 at and hosted at Herrick Schoolhouse two miles away, moved to a frame church building in the village in 1872.

ChaptersDavison StationDavison VillageDavison City

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Davison Township, 1864 to 1982

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1864Post officeThe Davison post office opens
  3. 1872Post officeThe Davison Station post office opens
  4. 1873Post officeThe Davison post office closes
  5. 1893Post officeThe Davison Station post office closes
  6. 1893Post officeThe Davison post office opens
  7. 1899In the archiveAtlas of Genesee County, Michigan - containing maps of every township in the county, with…
  8. 20th century
  9. 1900In the archiveDavison yards, probably Mich
  10. 1982In the archive1982 John McAra House
By decade

Davison Township, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1900s2 items
Atlas of Genesee County, Michigan - containing maps of every township in the county, with village and city plats, also …1899Atlas of Genesee County, Michigan - containing maps o…MapDavison yards, probably Mich1900Davison yards, probably Mich
1910s–1970snothing 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
1980s3 items
1982 John McAra House19821982 John McAra House1982 John Van Buskirk Farm House19821982 John Van Buskirk Farm HouseBarn 4277 Irish Road1982Barn 4277 Irish Road
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
Today5 recent
Davison Library branch2023Davison Library branchCurrent DTV Control Room2020Current DTV Control RoomDavison, MI location2019Davison, MI locationTrinity Lutheran Church Davison Michigan 2018-04882018Trinity Lutheran Church Davison Michigan 2018-0488TimBishopMayorOfDavisonMI2013TimBishopMayorOfDavisonMI
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.

Davison yards, probably Mich
Retake this viewDavison yards, probably Mich, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Davison Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,50018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 6,087

Between 163 and 6,087 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Davison Township’s Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Davison Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDavison yards, probably Mich: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Atlas Township2 historic placesA−BurtonIts storyB−Elba TownshipIts storyC−Richfield Township1 historic placeB+

Questions about Davison Township’s history

What year was Davison Township founded?

The Davison Township post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Davison Township rank for history?

Davison Township is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #493 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.

What is on the National Register in Davison Township?

4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Atlas Grange Hall (listed 1982, the first).

How old are the homes in Davison Township?

3% of Davison Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1981.

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 (9), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, 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.