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History · Maple Rapids

Maple Rapids’ post office opened in 1857, and 54% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1918 on and the census since 1880.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
54%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Maple Rapids began

When was Maple Rapids founded?

1857

The Maple Rapids post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 605 in 18802020 census: 573169 years
Founding year: the first Maple Rapids post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Maple Rapids’ 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 Maple Rapids are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Maple Rapids’ homes were built before 1938.On the map since 19183 editions of the USGS map, 1918 to 1965. Watch Maple Rapids change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Maple Rapids’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Maple Rapids’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Maple Rapids came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Maple Rapids.

Read it all →

In the early 19th-century Maple Rapids was a site where Maketoquit and his large band of Ottawa processed maple sugar, although their main base was further east in modern Shiawassee County, Michigan.

The community was named after the rapids on the Maple River by George Campau, (brother of Louis, founder of Grand Rapids), in 1826 when he built a trading post here. In 1852, William Hewitt built a dam, a sawmill and a store, platted the land and became the first postmaster. The town was incorporated as a village in 1881 during the lumber boom.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

On the map

Maple Rapids on the map, 1918 to 1965

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

Maple Rapids on the 1918 USGS mapMaple Rapids on the 1943 USGS mapMaple Rapids on the 1965 USGS map1918Perrinton 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 Maple Rapids.

By decade

Maple Rapids, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Maple Rapids, Michigan (September 2021)2021Maple Rapids, Michigan (September 2021)Maple Rapids, MI village office2021Maple Rapids, MI village officeMaple Rapids, MI post office2021Maple Rapids, MI post officeMaple Rapids, MI library2021Maple Rapids, MI library
People over time

Maple Rapids, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 683

Between 466 and 683 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Maple Rapids’ Wikipedia page.

Questions about Maple Rapids’ history

What year was Maple Rapids founded?

The Maple Rapids post office opened in 1857, 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 →
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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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.