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History · Goodwell Township

Goodwell Township’s post office opened in 1898, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1958 on.

1898first post office
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Goodwell Township began

When was Goodwell Township founded?

1898

The Goodwell Township post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Goodwell (1898) and Holmdale (1901), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 536128 years
Founding year: the first Goodwell Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Goodwell 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 Goodwell Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Goodwell Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Goodwell Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Goodwell 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, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Goodwell
1898–1909
Holmdale
1901–1902
18901960today
Gone or out of use
Holmdale Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Goodwell Township
Goodwell Township

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

The story so far

Goodwell Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Goodwell Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Goodwell Township is a civil township of Newaygo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 536 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1898. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 547 to 536 (-2%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Goodwell Township, 1898 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Goodwell post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Post officeThe Holmdale post office opens
  5. 1902Post officeThe Holmdale post office closes
  6. 1909Post officeThe Goodwell post office closes
  7. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Goodwell Township on the map, 1958 to 1985

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

Goodwell Township on the 1958 USGS mapGoodwell Township on the 1985 USGS map1958Woodville 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 Goodwell Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Goodwell Township

Nobody well known was born in Goodwell Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Roy BargyAmerican musician · b. 1894
B
Bull WagnerAmerican baseball player · b. 1887
Ella H. Brockway AvannAmerican educator, writer · b. 1853
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Mecosta TownshipIts storyC−Big Prairie Township1 historic placeB−Wilcox TownshipIts storyCNorwich TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEverett TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Goodwell Township’s history

What year was Goodwell Township founded?

The Goodwell Township post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 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.