Half of Escanaba Township’s homes were built after 1982
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns · #676 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Escanaba Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1932 on, and the census since 1880.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Escanaba Township is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #676 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 Escanaba Township’s 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 Escanaba Township’s 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 two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.7 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Escanaba Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Many native tribes have inhabited the area along Green Bay that is today Escanaba, including the Noquet, Potawatomi, Menominee and Ojibwe. "Escanaba" was the name of an Ojibwe village in this area in the early 19th century. The Ojibwa are one of the Anishinaabe, Algonquian-speaking tribes who settled and flourished around the Great Lakes. The word "Escanaba" roughly translates from Ojibwe and other regional Algonquian languages to "land of the red buck", although some people maintain that it refers to "flat rock".
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Escanaba Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1932Gladstone SW sheet · 1:31,680
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Escanaba 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.
Retake this viewOre Dock at Escanaba, length 1300 feet, 1867
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Escanaba Township’s page.
Escanaba Township is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns, #676 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 Escanaba Township?
3% of Escanaba Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (5), Wikidata (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.
1888
1888
