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History · Elmer Township

34% of Elmer Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 2000.

0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940

What stands out about Elmer Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Elmer Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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.

Juhl
1889–1906
Laurel
1891–1905
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Juhl
Gone or out of use
Juhl Post Officepost officeLaurel Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Elmer Township
HyslopJuhl

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

The story so far

Elmer Township, in brief

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

Elmer Township is a civil township of Sanilac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 724 at the 2020 census.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 806 to 724 (-10%).

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

Timeline

Elmer Township, 1889 to 1963

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889Post officeThe Juhl post office opens
  3. 1891Post officeThe Laurel post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905Post officeThe Laurel post office closes
  6. 1906Post officeThe Juhl post office closes
  7. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the map

Elmer Township on the map, 1963 to 1984

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

Elmer Township on the 1963 USGS mapElmer Township on the 1984 USGS map1963Snover 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 Elmer Township.

People over time

Elmer Township, census by census

020040060080020002020Peak: 806

Between 724 and 806 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Elmer Township

Nobody well known was born in Elmer Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Elmer Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 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.