Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #271 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 13 buildings. Below: maps from 1922 on and the census since 1880.
The Gaines Township post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1856. Three smaller post offices, Gaines (1852), Gaines Station (1856) and Duffield (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Gaines Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #271 of 701 in Michigan. 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 Gaines Township’s 21.1 sits above most of its state (87% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 14 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gaines Township’s history is told.
Three 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gaines 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 Gaines Township.
From Wikipedia’s history of Gaines Township.
The Village of Gaines area did not see a settler until 1856. The first passenger train passed through the future village site on July 4, 1856, and a post office, Gaines Station, was established that same year. In 1859, the village was platted. The Grand Trunk Western Railroad depot, built in 1884. The Village of Gaines was incorporated in 1875.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltBloss, Frank D., and Sons Farm House is built
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.
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.
Between 238 and 440 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gaines Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Gaines Township post office opened in 1852, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1856.
Gaines Township is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #271 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.
Two places: the Bloss, Frank D., and Sons Farm House (listed 1982) and the Genesee Avenue-Walker Street Historic District (1983).
11% of Gaines Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1980.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
