Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns · #601 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Laketon Township was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1959 on and the census since 1880.
More historic than 25% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Laketon Township is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #601 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 Laketon 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 Laketon Township’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1920, then grew more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Laketon Township’s Wikipedia page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Laketon Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Laketon Township is a civil township of Muskegon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 7,626 at the 2020 census.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 7,563 in 2010, 7,626 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 Laketon 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 Laketon Township.
Nobody well known was born in Laketon Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Green Creek, 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.
Laketon Township is more historic than 25% of U.S. towns, #601 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.
8% of Laketon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1976.
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.
