Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns · #133 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Detroit-Bay City Railroad Company Columbiaville Depot. Below: maps from 1963 on.
Marathon Township dates its founding to 1839 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1852.
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marathon Township is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #133 of 701 in Michigan. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Marathon Township’s 2.3 sits above most of its state (70% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
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 Marathon Township’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltDetroit-Bay City Railroad Company Columbiaville Depot is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Marathon Township.
The township was organized in 1839, named for the site of the Battle of Marathon in ancient Greece. The township initially included the adjacent townships of Oregon and Deerfield.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings 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 Marathon 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 Marathon Township.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Another post office, Marathon, 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.
In 1839, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Marathon Township’s post office opened in 1852.
Marathon Township is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #133 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.
One place: the Detroit-Bay City Railroad Company Columbiaville Depot (listed 1984).
19% of Marathon Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
