Founding year: the first East Tawas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives East Tawas’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, East Tawas is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #572 of 701 in Michigan. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of East Tawas’ overall grade.
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 East Tawas’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.1 points). 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 East Tawas’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The western New York firm Smith, Van Valkenburg, & Company bought land in the area in order to exploit the area's lumber resources. George Smith settled in the area in 1862 and founded the community. The East Tawas post office opened on April 15, 1867. A predecessor of the Detroit and Mackinac Railway built a station here, and the community incorporated as a village in 1887 and later as a city in 1895. Tawas Beach was established nearby in 1903 along the railway line in Baldwin Township. A post office opened here on June 12, 1903, until the community was annexed into the city of East Tawas in 1922.
The East Tawas post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does East Tawas rank for history?
East Tawas is more historic than 30% of U.S. towns, #572 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.
How old are the homes in East Tawas?
10% of East Tawas’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
Date?
Date?
2024
2015
2015
2005