On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Frenchtown Township is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #199 of 701 in Michigan. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Frenchtown 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 Frenchtown Township’s 2.8 sits above most of its state (71% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% 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 (±3.2 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 Frenchtown Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Brest
1836–1863
Stony Creek
1840–1841
Steiner
1886–1925
Brest
1890–1903
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Detroit BeachGolfcrestKimberly Estates Mobile Home ParkPleasantville Mobile Home CommunityPointe aux PeauxShamrock Mobile Home VillageSteinerStony CreekStony PointWoodland Beach
Gone or out of use
Brest Post Officepost officeLake Erie Historical MarkerparkSteiner Post Officepost officeStony Creek Post Officepost officeStony Creek Stationlocale
1cemetery inside Frenchtown Township
Brest
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Frenchtown Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Frenchtown Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Frenchtown Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1912Monroe 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 Frenchtown Township.
The area was long occupied by Native Americans, including the historic Potawatomi. They had trading relations with French-Canadians in the area. The Frenchtown area reflected the ethnicity of its first European settlers, French Canadians who took land along the banks of the River Raisin as early as 1784. There had been other French colonial settlements closer to Detroit and on both sides of the Detroit River. Their descendants are known as Muskrat French. Around the same time, the Sandy Creek Settlement was founded near this by Joseph Porlier Benec. The United States acquired this area, which had been considered part of British Canadian territory after the Treaty of Paris (1783) settling the American Revolutionary War. It was specifically part of state claims (from 1783); the Northwest Territory (1787); Indiana Territory (1803); Michigan Territory (1805); and, finally, the State of Mich…
Frenchtown Township is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #199 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.
What is on the National Register in Frenchtown Township?
One place: the Edward Loranger House (listed 1984).
How old are the homes in Frenchtown Township?
12% of Frenchtown Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (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.
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