Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1873.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Manton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Manton is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Manton’s overall grade.
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 Manton’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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1798.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.7 points).
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 Manton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The townsite was purchased and cleared in 1872 along the proposed route of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, by two local settlers, Ezra Harger and George Manton, and a third partner, William Mears. The place was known locally as Cedar Creek, but the railroad named the new station "Manton" after its first postmaster, George Manton.
Manton was at one time the county seat for Wexford County. However, the county seat was forcibly moved to Cadillac in the Battle of Manton.
Passages that mention Manton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Wexford County, Michigan1903 · page 396Read the page →
Read the text
ness tact and keen observation of conditions pointed out to him an opening for a prosjjerous mercantile business in the little town of Manton. .\ssociating with O. E. Burns, they piuxhased a good stock of merchandise and opened it up in one of the business rooms of the little town. Within a short time ])atrons became numerous and at the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Wexford County, Michigan1903 · page 243Read the page →
Read the text
new village came into existence. It was at first called Cedar Creek, after the township in which it was located, but later the name was changed to Manton. This shortened the distance from the county seat to the railroad by nearly one-half and enabled the making of a round trip in a day instead of taking two days, as before. The mail route
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Manton, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
In 1798, according to Wikidata. Manton’s post office opened in 1873.
How does Manton rank for history?
Manton is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. 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 Manton?
35% of Manton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2024
2021
2005