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History · Lafayette Township

Lafayette Township’s post office opened in 1857, and 49% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1934 on.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
49%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Lafayette Township began

When was Lafayette Township founded?

1857

The Lafayette Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, La Fayette (1857), Bad River (1867) and Edgewood (1874), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 516169 years
Founding year: the first Lafayette Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lafayette Township’s past

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

Lost villages6 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lafayette Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Lafayette Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Lafayette Township’s homes were built before 1941.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

La Fayette
1857–1902
Bad River
1867–1874
Edgewood
1874–1904
Rathbone
1891–1904
Galloway
1896–1902
Langport
1899–1902
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
EdgewoodLangportRathbone
Gone or out of use
Edgewood Post Officepost officeGalloway Post Officepost officeLafeyette Post Officepost officeLangport Post Officepost officeRathbone Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Lafayette Township
Lafayette

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

Help out

Start Lafayette Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lafayette 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
The story so far

Lafayette Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lafayette Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Lafayette Township is a civil township of Gratiot County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 516 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1857. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 591 to 516 (-13%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Lafayette Township, 1857 to 1934

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe La Fayette post office opens
  3. 1867Post officeThe Bad River post office opens
  4. 1874Post officeThe Bad River post office closes
  5. 1874Post officeThe Edgewood post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1902Post officeThe La Fayette post office closes
  8. 1904Post officeThe Edgewood post office closes
  9. 1921Born hereWilfred D. Webb is born here
  10. 1934On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Lafayette Township on the map, 1934 to 1973

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

Lafayette Township on the 1934 USGS mapLafayette Township on the 1973 USGS map1934Merrill 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 Lafayette Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Emerson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWheeler TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Lafayette Township’s history

What year was Lafayette Township founded?

The Lafayette Township post office opened in 1857, 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 →
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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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.