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History · Fife Lake

Fife Lake’s post office opened in 1875, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1956 on and the census since 1890.

1875first post office
0on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Phoenix-Five · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Fife Lake began

When was Fife Lake founded?

1875

The Fife Lake post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 394 in 18902020 census: 456151 years
Founding year: the first Fife Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Fife Lake’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 Fife Lake are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1900 and 1920, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Fife Lake’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fife Lake’s history is told.

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

Fife Lake, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020456 in 1900Low: 215

Lost half of its people between 1900 and 1920, then more than doubled.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

The story

How Fife Lake came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Fife Lake.

Read it all →

In 1872, J.L. Shaw and others platted two small settlements on a lake on the new Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad. These were known as North Fife Lake and Fyfe Lake (a misspelling of Fife), which were on the north and west sides of Fife Lake, respectively. Later that year, Fife Lake Township was created. The first church in the village was established in 1884. In 1889, Fife Lake was incorporated as a village.

On August 4, 2026, a ballot proposal to disincorporate the village of Fife Lake was rejected by voters. Had this passed, Fife Lake would have been the first Michigan village to voluntarily disincorporate.

The village annually hosts the Fife Lake Ice Fishing Derby near the end of January.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Fife Lake, decade by decade

Today12 recent
Northern2019NorthernGR&I Railroad Crossing2019GR&I Railroad CrossingFife Lake in Winter2019Fife Lake in WinterFife Lake Storefronts2019Fife Lake StorefrontsFife Lake Sign (State Street)2019Fife Lake Sign (State Street)M-186 Sign near2018M-186 Sign nearFife Lake Sign2018Fife Lake SignFife Lake Cemetery2018Fife Lake CemeteryBlinking Traffic Light2018Blinking Traffic LightFifeLake-UnionDistrictNo1SchoolhouseMI2010FifeLake-UnionDistrictNo1SchoolhouseMIMIMap-doton-FifeLake2005MIMap-doton-FifeLakeFife Lake Michigan Helen Island at Sunset2003Fife Lake Michigan Helen Island at Sunset
On the map

Fife Lake on the map, 1956 to 1985

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

Fife Lake on the 1956 USGS mapFife Lake on the 1985 USGS map1956Fife Lake 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 Fife Lake.

Questions about Fife Lake’s history

What year was Fife Lake founded?

The Fife Lake post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.