Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #237 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Grace Ingersoll McGraw House and the Cadieux School. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1880.
Grosse Pointe dates its founding to 1934 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grosse Pointe is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #237 of 701 in Michigan. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds 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 Grosse Pointe’s 3.6 sits above most of its state (73% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grosse Pointe.
It was incorporated as a city in 1934. There are five Grosse Pointes: Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe City, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Woods, and Grosse Pointe Shores.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grosse Pointe. 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 Grosse Pointe.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCountry club
In the archiveResidence of Senator McMillan, Grosse Pointe, Mich
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereJulie Harris is born here
Born hereMatt Letscher is born here
Born hereJohn 5 is born here
Born hereZach Werenski is born hereNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Grosse Pointe’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 189 and 6,637 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grosse Pointe’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Another post office, Grossepoint, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1934, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Grosse Pointe’s post office opened in 1895, and the census of 1880 counted 189 people here.
Grosse Pointe is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #237 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 Grace Ingersoll McGraw House (listed 2023) and the Cadieux School (2023).
60% of Grosse Pointe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), the Library of Congress (15), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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1890![Residence of Senator [James] McMillan](https://images.townratings.com/story/7748/d6f66263ab9bdb780084-s.jpg)
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