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CHistory
History · Kalkaska Township

Kalkaska Township’s post office opened in 1873, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 31% of U.S. towns · #565 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it

Below: maps from 1956 on and the census since 1880.

1873first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Kalkaska Township began

When was Kalkaska Township founded?

1873

The Kalkaska Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 496 in 18802020 census: 5,027153 years

How historic is Kalkaska Township?

C

More historic than 31% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Kalkaska Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kalkaska Township is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #565 of 701 in Michigan. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kalkaska Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1873, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194010.8% of homes (±4.0) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MI town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 31%
NewerOlder
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 19%

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 Kalkaska 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 C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.0 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 Kalkaska Township’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Kalkaska Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1910 and 1930, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kalkaska Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Kalkaska Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,000188019001920194019601980200020201,415 in 1910Low: 861

Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1930, then more than doubled.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Kalkaska Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kalkaska Township.

Read it all →

In 1872, Albert A. Abbott arrived here from Decatur, and the following year, platted his land and became the first postmaster. In 1874, Kalkaska became a station on a new Pennsylvania Railroad line from Walton to Petoskey. Today, this line is part of the Great Lakes Central Railroad.

On July 5, 1908, a fire began in the middle of the business block and burned most of the stores. Local photographer E. L. Beebe took a number of photographs of the fire; the resulting postcards were widely sold and can still be found today. Two years later, another fire started in downtown Kalkaska. Again, in 1925, downtown Kalkaska was devastated by the largest fire since the fire of 1908.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kalkaska Township, 1873 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Kalkaska post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 21st century
  6. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 2,226
By decade

Kalkaska Township, decade by decade

Today7 recent
Kalkaska, MI village hall2020Kalkaska, MI village hallKalkaska, MI post office2020Kalkaska, MI post officeKalkaska High School (Michigan)2020Kalkaska High School (Michigan)Kalkaska City Airport (Michigan)2020Kalkaska City Airport (Michigan)Downtown Kalkaska, MI (US 131)2020Downtown Kalkaska, MI (US 131)Kalkaska Cemetery Chapel2017Kalkaska Cemetery ChapelHotel Sieting2017Hotel Sieting
On the map

Kalkaska Township on the map, 1956 to 1985

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

Kalkaska Township on the 1956 USGS mapKalkaska Township on the 1985 USGS map1956Kalkaska 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 Kalkaska Township.

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
KalkaskaMobile Home Estates
1cemetery inside Kalkaska Township
Evergreen

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Clearwater TownshipIts storyCExcelsior TownshipIts storyC−Whitewater TownshipIts storyC−Boardman TownshipIts storyCOrange TownshipIts storyC−Rapid River TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about Kalkaska Township’s history

What year was Kalkaska Township founded?

The Kalkaska Township post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Kalkaska Township rank for history?

Kalkaska Township is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns, #565 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 Kalkaska Township?

11% of Kalkaska Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1977.

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 Wikimedia Commons (7), 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.