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History · Lilley Township

Lilley Township’s post office opened in 1884

Most of Lilley Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Lilley Township began

When was Lilley Township founded?

1884

The Lilley Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Lilley (1884), Biteley (1889) and Jewell (1901), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 835142 years
Founding year: the first Lilley Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Lilley Township’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Lilley Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lilley Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lilley Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lilley 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
Places that used to be

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

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

Lilley
1884–1918
Biteley
1889–1949
Jewell
1901–1906
Alderson
1907–1916
Bitely
1949–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BitelyLilley
Gone or out of use
Alderson Post Officepost officeAlderson StationlocaleBiteley StationlocaleJewell Post Officepost officeJewell StationlocaleLilley Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Lilley Township
Lilley

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

The story so far

Lilley Township, in brief

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

Lilley Township is a civil township of Newaygo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 835 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Bitely and Lilley are within the township.

Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 797 to 835 (+5%).

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

Timeline

Lilley Township, 1884 to 1949

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Lilley post office opens
  3. 1887Born hereBull Wagner is born here
  4. 1889Post officeThe Biteley post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1901Post officeThe Jewell post office opens
  7. 1906Post officeThe Jewell post office closes
  8. 1918Post officeThe Lilley post office closes
  9. 1949Post officeThe Biteley post office closes
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.
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Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Home TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMerrill TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPleasant Plains Township1 historic placeBTroy TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lilley Township’s history

What year was Lilley Township founded?

The Lilley Township post office opened in 1884, 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 →
Start a conversation
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, 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.