1 of Mason Township’s places is on the National Register
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns · #252 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Mason District Number 5 Schoolhouse. Most of Mason Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1984. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 2000.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mason Township is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #252 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mason Township’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 Mason Township’s 7.1 sits above most of its state (79% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Mason Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Cass County had been originally organized by an act of the Michigan Territorial Council on November 4, 1829, as four townships while Lewis Cass was the territorial governor. Mason was included in Ontwa Township at the end of 1833, and at the start of 1834 Mason Township was formed into the same land area that it is today, which is less than the standard 36 square miles (93 km2) of most townships.
Passages that mention Mason Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Cass county, Michigan1882 · page 303Read the page →
Read the text
by trade, he went to White Pigeon to obtain employment, and subsequently built many of the brick houses in this vicinity, building the John Miller house, the first brick one erected in Mason Township. At the time of their settlement, wolves were very numerous and destructive of sheep, and the settlers were obliged to exercise great care in protecting their small flocks to prevent their annihilation.
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.
Timeline
Mason Township, 1892 to 1948
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mason Township.
1948Vandalia 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 Mason Township.
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.
Retake this view516 Hogsback Road (House)
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mason Township’s page.
Mason Township is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #252 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.
What is on the National Register in Mason Township?
One place: the Mason District Number 5 Schoolhouse (listed 1985).
How old are the homes in Mason Township?
9% of Mason Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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