Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #295 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1850.
The La Salle Township post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, La Salle (1832), Yargerville (1890) and Toledo Beach (1915), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, La Salle Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #295 of 701 in Michigan. Its age 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 La Salle 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: 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how La Salle Township’s history is told.
Three 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of La Salle 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 La Salle Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of La Salle Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
La Salle Township is a civil township of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,639 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1832. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 4,894 to 4,639 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereArchibald B. Darragh is born here
Born hereStephen Miller Foote is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on La Salle Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 1,100 and 5,011 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on La Salle Township’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The La Salle Township post office opened in 1832, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
La Salle Township is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #295 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.
16% of La Salle Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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