Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Lowell Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
B−History
History · Lowell Township

Lowell Township dates to 1831

More historic than 45% of U.S. towns · #406 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it

Most of Lowell Township was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1918 on, and the census since 1860.

1831founded
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lowell Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lowell Township began

When was Lowell Township founded?

1831

Lowell Township dates its founding to 1831 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 547 in 18602020 census: 6,276195 years

How historic is Lowell Township?

B−

More historic than 45% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Lowell Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lowell Township is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #406 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lowell Township’s overall grade.
Founding era1831, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19407.0% of homes (±3.4) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%C+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MI town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 45%
NewerOlder
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 42%

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 Lowell 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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.4 points). Two sources give 1831.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 →

What stands out about Lowell 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 writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19183 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1978. Watch Lowell Township change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1831: 195 years of Lowell Township.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lowell Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lowell Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMain Street (NBY 8866): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Lowell Township on the map, 1918 to 1978

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

Lowell Township on the 1918 USGS mapLowell Township on the 1943 USGS mapLowell Township on the 1978 USGS map1918Lowell 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 Lowell Township.

Timeline

Lowell Township, 1831 to 1918

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1831
    FoundingLowell Township is established
  3. 20th century
  4. 1913In the archiveMain Street (NBY 8866)
  5. 1918On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Lowell Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lowell Township.

Read it all →

The earliest modern residents of the Flat River and Grand River were the Grand River Odawa, who established several villages along the Grand River. In the first decades of the 19th century, the village was led by Wabiwindego and Keewaycooshcum, and later by Cobmoosa. In the 1830s, Cobmoosa purchased the land under the Odawa village in the name of his father, fur trader Antoine Campau. The Odawa remained at their village on the Flat River until 1858, when they moved to a reservation at Manistee, Michigan.

ChaptersLowell Showboat

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Lowell Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s3 items
Main Street (NBY 8866)c. 1913Main Street (NBY 8866)Flat River in Lowell, Michigan, not after 19151915Flat River in Lowell, Michigan, not after 1915Untitled - Street Views (NBY 4529)c. 1915Untitled - Street Views (NBY 4529)
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Vergennes District No. 1 School2014Vergennes District No. 1 SchoolLowell Municipal Light and Power Building 2013-09-04 22-11-172013Lowell Municipal Light and Power Building 2013-09-04 …MIMap-doton-Lowell2005MIMap-doton-Lowell
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Main Street (NBY 8866)
Retake this viewMain Street (NBY 8866), c. 1913

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lowell Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Lowell Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5001900195020004,142

Grew from 547 people in 1860 to 4,142 in 2020, 7 times over.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lowell Township’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
AltoKey Heights Village Mobile Home ParkSegwun
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lowell Township
McBrideMerrimanRolfeWright

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lowell2 historic placesABoston TownshipIts storyB−Vergennes Township2 historic placesA−Forest Hills2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCascade Township2 historic placesCBowne TownshipIts storyBAda Township1 historic placeB−

Questions about Lowell Township’s history

What year was Lowell Township founded?

In 1831, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1860 counted 547 people here.

How does Lowell Township rank for history?

Lowell Township is more historic than 45% of U.S. towns, #406 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.

How old are the homes in Lowell Township?

7% of Lowell Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.4 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1983.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.