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History · Dover Township

Half of Dover Township’s homes were built after 1989

Most of Dover Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1989. Below: maps from 1954 on.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Dover 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 writtenNo old photos of Dover Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Dover Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dover Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

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

Brown's Dale
1879–1882
Sparr
1915–1932
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Sparr
Gone or out of use
Brown's Dale Post Officepost officeSparr Post Officepost office

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

The story so far

Dover Township, in brief

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

Dover Township is a civil township of Otsego County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 632 at the 2020 census.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 561 to 632 (+13%).

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

Timeline

Dover Township, 1879 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Brown's Dale post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Brown's Dale post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1915Post officeThe Sparr post office opens
  6. 1932Post officeThe Sparr post office closes
  7. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Dover Township, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Dover Township (Otsego), MI2021Dover Township (Otsego), MIDover Township (Otsego), MI location2019Dover Township (Otsego), MI location
On the map

Dover Township on the map, 1954 to 1986

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

Dover Township on the 1954 USGS mapDover Township on the 1986 USGS map1954Gaylord 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 Dover Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Livingston TownshipIts storyDCorwith TownshipIts storyC−Charlton Township1 historic placeC+Chester TownshipIts storyD

Questions about Dover Township’s history

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). 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.