Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1962 on, and the census since 1860.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hudson Township is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Hudson Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hudson Township’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hudson Township.
Hudson was named for Dr. Daniel Hudson, an original landowner. The city's motto is "Small Town Big Heart."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2023Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Bridge (Huds…
2023Downtown Hudson, MI 2023
2014Hudson Michigan Carnegie Library
2011U.S. Post Office, 401 West Main Street, Hudson, Michi…
2011Main Street
2011Hudson Water Tower, West Carleton Road
2011Hudson Municipal Building, 121 North Church Street
2011Hudson Cinema, 116 West Main Street
2011First United Methodist Church, 420 West Main Street
2011First Baptist Church, 111 East Main Street
2011Enos Caniff House
2010Lorenzo and Ruth Wells Palmer House
2010Hudson Downtown Historic District
2010Heman R. Goodrich House
2010Gamaliel Thompson House
2010Dr. Leonard Hall HouseEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hudson Township. 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 Hudson Township.
No 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 Hudson Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,489 and 2,773 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hudson Township’s Wikipedia page.
Another post office, Quaker, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Hudson Township is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns. 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.
30% of Hudson Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (18), 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.
