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Hancock, Michigan 2018Photo: Chris857 · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Hancock Township

Hancock Township dates to 1846

Most of Hancock Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1880.

1846founded
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
17old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hancock Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hancock Township began

When was Hancock Township founded?

1846

Hancock Township dates its founding to 1846 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 1,783 in 18802020 census: 500180 years
Founding year: Wikidata.The full story ↓

What stands out about Hancock Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos17 old photos, postcards and papers.Boom and bustPeaked at 8,981 in 1910; 4,501 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19154 editions of the USGS map, 1915 to 1975. Watch Hancock Township change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1846: 180 years of Hancock Township.
★ What stands out · By decade

Hancock Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1900s17 items
Portage Lake, Hancock-Houghton, Mich1898Portage Lake, Hancock-Houghton, MichPouring Copper, Quincy Smelter, Hancock, Mich1898Pouring Copper, Quincy Smelter, Hancock, MichHancockMich-panorama-19061900HancockMich-panorama-1906Finnish school1900Finnish schoolA Modern smelter1900A Modern smelterQuincy Hill and Hancock, Mich1900Quincy Hill and Hancock, MichPortage Lake1900Portage LakeA Copper blast furnace, Hancock, Mich. c1906c. 1906A Copper blast furnace, Hancock, Mich. c1906High school, Hancock, Michigan c1906c. 1906High school, Hancock, Michigan c1906High school, Hancock, Michigan, 1906 cph.3b183941906High school, Hancock, Michigan, 1906 cph.3b18394Quincy Hill and smelters, Hancock, Mich. c1906 (panorama)c. 1906Quincy Hill and smelters, Hancock, Mich. c1906 (panor…Str. Pere Marquette at Hancock, Mich. c1906c. 1906Str. Pere Marquette at Hancock, Mich. c1906Michigan smelter and Portage Lake1906Michigan smelter and Portage LakePouring copper1906Pouring copperQunicy St1906Qunicy StHigh school1906High schoolPouring copper1906Pouring copper
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
People over time

Hancock Township, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 8,981

Peaked at 8,981 in 1910; 4,501 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

On the map

Hancock Township on the map, 1915 to 1975

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

Hancock Township on the 1915 USGS mapHancock Township on the 1946 USGS mapHancock Township on the 1954 USGS mapHancock Township on the 1975 USGS map1915Houghton 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 Hancock Township.

The story

How Hancock Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hancock Township.

Read it all →

Hancock is located within Ojibwa (Chippewa) homelands and ceded-territory established by the Treaty of 1842. The founding of the settlement of Hancock began during the summers of 1847 and 1848, when a small group of prospectors laboring on a rugged hillside (later named Quincy Hill) discovered a sequence of prehistoric Ojibwe copper mining pits, stretching out for 100 feet along the local amygdaloid lode. Upon inspecting one, they realized that the Native Americans were able to take copper in small quantities through these pits. The discovery formed the basis upon which the Quincy Mining Company was created in October 1848, under a special charter granted by the legislature.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hancock Township, 1846 to 1915

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1846
    FoundingHancock Township is established
  3. 1898In the archivePortage Lake, Hancock-Houghton, Mich
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archiveHancockMich-panorama-1906
  6. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 8,981
  7. 1915On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Portage Lake, Hancock-Houghton, Mich
Retake this viewPortage Lake, Hancock-Houghton, Mich, 1898

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hancock Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Hancock Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPortage Lake, Hancock-Houghton, Mich: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Hancock5 historic placesA+Stanton Township1 historic placeA−Quincy Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCalumet Township9 historic placesAFranklin Township3 historic placesA+Adams Township3 historic placesAPortage TownshipIts storyB+

Questions about Hancock Township’s history

What year was Hancock Township founded?

In 1846, according to Wikidata. the census of 1880 counted 1,783 people here.

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 (8), the Library of Congress (9), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.