L'Anse Township’s post office opened in 1875, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns · #222 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Kewawenon Mission, the Hebard-Ford Summer House and the Canyon Falls Bridge. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1880.
From L'Anse Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How L'Anse Township began
When was L'Anse Township founded?
1875
The L'Anse Township post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Pequaming (1880), Keweenaw Bay (1901) and Herman (1903), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,014 in 18802020 census: 3,551151 years
How historic is L'Anse Township?
B+
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first L'Anse Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives L'Anse Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, L'Anse Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #222 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of L'Anse Township’s overall grade.
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 L'Anse Township’s 8.3 sits above most of its state (81% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.5 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 L'Anse Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
French colonists had established a fur trading post here as a part of New France and a Jesuit mission, naming it L'Anse. In French, L'Anse translates as "the cove" or "the bay", a reference to its location in on the southern portion of L'Anse Bay, a portion of the larger Keweenaw Bay, at the base of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The modern-day village grew around this French trading post.
Following treaties with the United States in the 19th century, the Ojibwa/Chippewa ceded extensive amounts of land in Michigan. The L'Anse Indian Reservation was established by the U.S. here as the largest and the oldest in Michigan.
In 1896, the village was completely burned to the ground by a deadly fire which left many homeless.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of L'Anse Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1955Herman 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 L'Anse Township.
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.
Retake this viewL'Anse, Michigan, 1941
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on L'Anse Township’s page.
The L'Anse Township post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does L'Anse Township rank for history?
L'Anse Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #222 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.
What is on the National Register in L'Anse Township?
Three places: the Kewawenon Mission (listed 1980), the Hebard-Ford Summer House (1982) and the Canyon Falls Bridge (1999).
How old are the homes in L'Anse Township?
20% of L'Anse Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
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