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BHistory
History · Irving Township

Irving Township’s post office opened in 1848, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 56% of U.S. towns · #311 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it

Below: maps from 1951 on.

1848first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
Photo: Larry Pieniazek, Lar (commons) or User:Lar (primary) · CC BY 2.5
Quick answers

How Irving Township began

When was Irving Township founded?

1848

The Irving Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Irving (1848), North Irving (1858) and Fillmore (1866), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 3,734178 years

How historic is Irving Township?

B

More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Irving Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Irving Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Irving Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #311 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Irving Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 56%
NewerOlder
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 56%

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 Irving 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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.1 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 Irving Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Irving Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Irving
1848–1933
North Irving
1858–1901
Fillmore
1866–1887
Freeport
1878–today
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
FreeportIrving
Gone or out of use
Fillmore Post Officepost officeIrving Post Officepost officeIrving StationlocaleNorth Irving Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Irving Township
FreeportGermanIngraham GraveIrving

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

Timeline

Irving Township, 1848 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Irving post office opens
  3. 1858Post officeThe North Irving post office opens
  4. 1866Post officeThe Fillmore post office opens
  5. 1887Post officeThe Fillmore post office closes
  6. 20th century
  7. 1901Post officeThe North Irving post office closes
  8. 1933Post officeThe Irving post office closes
  9. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story so far

Irving Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Irving Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Irving Township is a civil township of Barry County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,734 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1848. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,250 to 3,734 (+15%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Irving Township on the map, 1951 to 1982

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

Irving Township on the 1951 USGS mapIrving Township on the 1982 USGS map1951Hastings 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 Irving Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Irving Township

Nobody well known was born in Irving Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Irving Township’s history

What year was Irving Township founded?

The Irving Township post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Irving Township rank for history?

Irving Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #311 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.

How old are the homes in Irving Township?

14% of Irving Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1997.

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).

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.