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History · Grant

Grant dates to 1893, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1958 on and the census since 1880.

1893founded
0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Grant began

When was Grant founded?

1893

Grant dates its founding to 1893 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 90 in 18802020 census: 952133 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1892.The full story ↓

What stands out about Grant’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 Grant are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Grant’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Grant came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Grant.

Read it all →

The history of Grant began in 1882, when Andrew J. Squier built the first sawmill. Soon afterward, a railroad station was built on the Chicago and Western Michigan Railroad. Squier named the station Grant Station after President and Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant. The community was also called Grant Center because of its location within the township.

On May 14, 1892, a post office was established under the name Grant Station. Grant Center was incorporated in 1893 as the village of Grant. The post office name was shortened to Grant in 1899.

At the peak of the lumber era, the sawmills shipped one million feet of lumber per year. The village of Grant was reincorporated as a city in 1969.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Grant, 1892 to 1958

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Grant Station post office opens
  3. 1893
    FoundingGrant is established
  4. 1899Post officeThe Grant Station post office closes
  5. 1899Post officeThe Grant post office opens
  6. 20th century
  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.

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On the map

Grant on the map, 1958 to 1985

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

Grant on the 1958 USGS mapGrant on the 1985 USGS map1958Fremont 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 Grant.

People over time

Grant, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020952

Grew from 90 people in 1880 to 952 in 2020, more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Grant’s post office has been open since 1899. Another post office, Grant Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Grant Station
1892–1899
Grant
1899–today
18901960today
1cemetery inside Grant
Parkview

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Ashland TownshipIts storyCGrant TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Grant’s history

What year was Grant founded?

In 1893, according to Wikidata. Grant’s post office opened in 1892, and the census of 1880 counted 90 people here.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 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.