Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #636 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Lake Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: maps from 1956 on and the census since 1890.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Township is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #636 of 701 in Michigan. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 Lake 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: our sources. 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 Lake Township’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1910 and 1930, then grew 8-fold.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lake Township’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lake Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lake Township is a civil township of Missaukee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,827 at the 2020 census, which makes it the county's most-populated municipality.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 2,800 in 2010, 2,827 in 2020.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings 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 Lake 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 Lake Township.
Nobody well known was born in Lake Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Jennings, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Lake Township is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #636 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.
6% of Lake 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 1984.
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 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.
