Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1869.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Fruitport’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fruitport is more historic than 32% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fruitport’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 Fruitport’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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.9 points). Two sources give 1868.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
What stands out about Fruitport’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fruitport was founded by Edward L. Craw in 1868, who platted and named it "Crawville". It was renamed "Fruitport" a year later when the Pere Marquette Railroad built a station there, as the town was in the middle of a fertile fruit-growing area and also a port. It incorporated as a village in 1891.
In an election on November 8, 2005, 306 residents voted unsuccessfully to dissolve the village municipal corporation, while 155 voted no, short of the two-thirds majority (308 votes) needed to dissolve the village. This was the fourth time since 1979 that a proposal to dissolve the village was on the ballot for an election. In 1990, a proposal to disincorporate was defeated by a 2 to 1 margin while a proposal in 1998 failed by 41 votes.
In 1868, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Fruitport’s post office opened in 1869, and the census of 1880 counted 353 people here.
How does Fruitport rank for history?
Fruitport is more historic than 32% 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.
How old are the homes in Fruitport?
12% of Fruitport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 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.
