Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Forest Home Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Its Register listings are the Henry Richardi House and the M-88-Intermediate River Bridge. Below: maps from 1957 on.
The Forest Home Township post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Rootville (1867), Forest Home (1875) and Snowflake (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Forest Home Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Forest Home Township’s 11.3 sits above most of its state (84% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Forest Home Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Forest Home Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Forest Home Township is a civil township of Antrim County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,675 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1875. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,720 to 1,675 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Forest Home Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Forest Home Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Forest Home Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Forest Home Township post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Forest Home Township is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. 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.
Two places: the Henry Richardi House (listed 1978) and the M-88-Intermediate River Bridge (1999).
8% of Forest Home Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1975.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
