Highland Park’s post office opened in 1889, and 46% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns · #61 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Highland Park Plant, Ford Motor Company, a National Historic Landmark, and three historic districts with 1,273 buildings between them. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1900.
From Highland Park’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Highland Park began
When was Highland Park founded?
1889
The Highland Park post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Whitewood (1873), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 427 in 19002020 census: 8,977137 years
How historic is Highland Park?
A
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Highland Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Highland Park’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highland Park is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #61 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Highland Park’s overall grade.
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 Highland Park’s 1,502 sits above most of its state (100% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1,296 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
What stands out about Highland Park’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area that became Highland Park began was a small farming community on a large ridge at what is now Woodward Avenue and Highland, six miles (9.7 km) north of Detroit. In 1818, prominent Detroit judge Augustus B. Woodward bought the ridge, and platted the village of Woodwardville in 1825. The development of the village failed. Another Detroit judge, Benjamin F. H. Witherell, son of Michigan Supreme Court justice James Witherell, attempted to found a village platted as Cassandra on this site in 1836, but this plan also failed.
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.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Highland Park. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Detroit 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 Highland Park.
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.
Retake this viewModel T's coming off the assembly line at the Highland Park plant, 1900
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Highland Park’s page.
The Highland Park post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Highland Park rank for history?
Highland Park is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #61 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.
What is on the National Register in Highland Park?
9 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Highland Park Plant, Ford Motor Company (a National Historic Landmark since 1978), and 3 historic districts, the Highland Heights-Stevens` Subdivision Historic District, the Medbury`s-Grove Lawn Subdivisions Historic District and the Palmer Park Boulevard Apartments District, with 1,273 contributing buildings. 1,296 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Highland Park?
46% of Highland Park’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1944.
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 (15), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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.
★ Landmark
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