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History · Kinde

Kinde’s post office opened in 1885, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1954 on, and the census since 1910.

1885first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Kinde’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Kinde began

When was Kinde founded?

1885

The Kinde post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 300 in 19102020 census: 421141 years
Founding year: the first Kinde post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Kinde’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 624 in 1960; 421 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Kinde’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kinde’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewKindelutheran: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Kinde, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 624

Peaked at 624 in 1960; 421 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Kinde came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kinde.

Read it all →

Businessman John Kinde arrived in Michigan's central Thumb area in the early 1880s and established a general store, lumber yard, grain elevator and post office. Train service began in 1882 with the construction of track by the Port Huron and Northwestern Railroad.

Kinde was renowned as the "bean capital of the world." Michigan bean soup has been a staple for over one hundred years in the U.S. Senate dining room in the form of Senate bean soup. However, the Michigan Bean Festival on Labor Day weekend is held in nearby Fairgrove.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kinde, 1904 to 1960

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1904In the archiveMap of Kinde, Michigan (1904)
  3. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 624
By decade

Kinde, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Map of Kinde, Michigan (1904)1904Map of Kinde, Michigan (1904)Map
1910s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Date unknown1 to date
KindelutheranDate?Kindelutheran
Today3 recent
Main Street2019Main StreetKinde, MI location2019Kinde, MI locationMIMap-doton-Kinde2005MIMap-doton-Kinde
On the map

Kinde on the map, 1954 to 1970

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

Kinde on the 1954 USGS mapKinde on the 1970 USGS map1954Flint sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Kinde.

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.

Kindelutheran
Retake this viewKindelutheran

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Kinde’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Kinde’s history

What year was Kinde founded?

The Kinde post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.