Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns · #485 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Below: maps from 1945 on and the census since 2000.
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jefferson Township is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #485 of 701 in Michigan. 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 Jefferson 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.
Five other post offices 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Jefferson Township’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Jefferson Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Jefferson Township is a civil township of Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,590 at the 2020 census.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,541 in 2010, 2,590 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Jefferson Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Jefferson Township was settled in October, 1828, by Nathan Norton, Abner Tharp, Moses and William Reames, all of whom made permanent locations except Tharp. He removed to Calvin in the spring j of 1829, and in 1830 returned to Jefferson. He soon after went to one of the Western States, but subsequently returned and settled in Brownsville. John Reed moved into the township from Penn, in the fall
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson Township.
Between 2,401 and 2,590 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Jefferson Township’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Jefferson Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Jefferson Township is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #485 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.
15% of Jefferson Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
