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History · Garden Township

Garden Township’s post office opened in 1865, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 8 buildings. Below: maps from 1932 on and the census since 1890.

1865first post office
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Garden Township began

When was Garden Township founded?

1865

The Garden Township post office opened in 1865, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Isabella (1887), Vans Harbor (1890) and Uno (1898), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 458 in 18902020 census: 772161 years
Founding year: the first Garden Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Garden Township’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 Garden Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Garden Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Garden Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Garden Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Garden
1865–today
Isabella
1887–1941
Vans Harbor
1890–1914
Uno
1898–1919
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GardenGarden CornersIsabella
Gone or out of use
Isabella Post Officepost officeStueben Landing FieldairportUno Post Officepost officeVans Harbor Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Garden Township
Bailey FamilyCousineau - Potvin FamilyKates BayNew GardenOld Garden

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Garden Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Garden Township.

Read it all →

This settlement along Big Bay de Noc lies in the historic land of the Noquet. When it was first settled around 1850 by Metis it was known as Garden Bay or Haley's Bay. It was incorporated as a village in 1886.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Garden Township, 1865 to 1941

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1865Post officeThe Garden post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Isabella post office opens
  4. 1890Post officeThe Vans Harbor post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1914Post officeThe Vans Harbor post office closes
  7. 1932On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1941Post officeThe Isabella post office closes
By decade

Garden Township, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Garden, Michigan2019Garden, MichiganMIMap-doton-Garden2005MIMap-doton-Garden
On the map

Garden Township on the map, 1932 to 1985

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

Garden Township on the 1932 USGS mapGarden Township on the 1958 USGS mapGarden Township on the 1985 USGS map1932Garden NE sheet · 1:31,680

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Garden Township.

On the National Register

1 listing protects 8 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
8
each building in a district counts
first listed
2017
Camp Delta-Delta Resort
Camp Delta-Delta Resort
Districts
Camp Delta-Delta ResortDistrict

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Garden Township, census by census

01002003004005001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 497

Between 174 and 497 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Inwood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNahma Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townThompson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFairbanks Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Garden Township’s history

What year was Garden Township founded?

The Garden Township post office opened in 1865, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Garden Township?

One place: the Camp Delta-Delta Resort (listed 2017).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 (2), 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.