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History · Drummond Township

Drummond Township’s post office opened in 1881, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Drummond Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Its Register listing is the Fort Drummond. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1964 on, and the census since 1890.

1881first post office
1on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Drummond Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Drummond Township began

When was Drummond Township founded?

1881

The Drummond Township post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Drummond (1881), Scammon (1884) and Maxton (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 496 in 18902020 census: 973145 years
Founding year: the first Drummond Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Drummond Township’s past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Drummond Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Drummond
1881–1953
Scammon
1884–1892
Maxton
1900–1930
Kreetan
1905–1914
Johns Wood
1914–1927
Drummond Island
1953–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DrummondJohnswoodLincolnMaxton
Gone or out of use
Drummond Dolomite QuarrymineJohns Wood Post Officepost officeMaxton Post Officepost officeScammon Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Drummond Township
DrummondDrummond Island IndianFinnishMatthews

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

Help out

Start Drummond Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDrummond Island Quarry: East End Lookin…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Drummond Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020711 in 1920Low: 294

Lost half of its people between 1920 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Drummond Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Drummond Township.

Read it all →

The township and island are named after Gordon Drummond, the first Canadian-born officer to command the military and the civil government of British Canada. As Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Drummond distinguished himself on the Niagara front in the War of 1812 and later became Governor-General and Administrator of Canada. The Ojibwe name for the island is Bootaagan-minising (syncope as Bootaagan-mnising recorded as "Potagannissing"), meaning "at the Mill Island".

ChaptersBorder on the Great Lakes

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Drummond Township, 1881 to 2010

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Drummond post office opens
  3. 1884Post officeThe Scammon post office opens
  4. 1892Post officeThe Scammon post office closes
  5. 1893In the archiveDrummond Island Quarry: East End Looking East
  6. 20th century
  7. 1900Post officeThe Maxton post office opens
  8. 1930Post officeThe Maxton post office closes
  9. 1953Post officeThe Drummond post office closes
  10. 1964On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  11. 21st century
  12. 2010CensusPopulation peaks at 1,058
By decade

Drummond Township, decade by decade

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

1890s1 item
Drummond Island Quarry: East End Looking East1893Drummond Island Quarry: East End Looking East
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
Today17 recent
Big Shoals Bay, Drummond Island2020Big Shoals Bay, Drummond IslandBig Shoals Bay, Drummond Island2020Big Shoals Bay, Drummond IslandBig Shoals Bay, Drummond Island2020Big Shoals Bay, Drummond IslandBig Puddingstone, Drummond Island2020Big Puddingstone, Drummond IslandBass Cove, Drummond Island2020Bass Cove, Drummond IslandBass Cove, Drummond Island2020Bass Cove, Drummond IslandBass Cove, Drummond Island2020Bass Cove, Drummond IslandBass Cove, Drummond Island2020Bass Cove, Drummond IslandBass Cove during the Winter, Drummond Island, Michigan2020Bass Cove during the Winter, Drummond Island, MichiganBass Cove during a snow storm -- Drummond Island, Michigan2020Bass Cove during a snow storm -- Drummond Island, Mic…Bass Cove Ice Floes2020Bass Cove Ice FloesBass Cove - Drummond Island during the winter2020Bass Cove - Drummond Island during the winterBass Cove - Drummond Island during the winter2020Bass Cove - Drummond Island during the winterBass Cove - Drummond Island during the winter2020Bass Cove - Drummond Island during the winterAwaiting spring on Drummond Island2020Awaiting spring on Drummond IslandAwaitiing Summer at Yacht Haven Marina, Drummond Island2020Awaitiing Summer at Yacht Haven Marina, Drummond Isla…A view from the living room, Drummond Island2020A view from the living room, Drummond Island
On the map

Drummond Township on the map in 1964

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Drummond Township.

Drummond Township on the 1964 USGS map1964Drummond SE sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Drummond 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.

Drummond Island Quarry: East End Looking East
Retake this viewDrummond Island Quarry: East End Looking East, 1893

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Drummond Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1969
Fort Drummond
Fort Drummond
Buildings
Fort DrummondBuilding

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Detour TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Drummond Township’s history

What year was Drummond Township founded?

The Drummond Township post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Drummond Township?

One place: the Fort Drummond (listed 1969).

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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.