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History · Mastodon Township

Mastodon Township’s post office opened in 1885, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings.

1885first post office
2on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Mastodon Township began

When was Mastodon Township founded?

1885

The Mastodon Township post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Mastodon (1885), Mastodon Mine (1885) and Dunn Mine (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 576141 years
Founding year: the first Mastodon Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Mastodon Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Mastodon Township, and 6 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Mastodon Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Mastodon
1885–1888
Mastodon Mine
1885–1896
Dunn Mine
1890–1895
Dunn
1895–1900
Alpha
1913–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
AlphaDunn LocationMastodonNaultsPanolaStager
Gone or out of use
Alpha StationlocaleBook MinemineDunn Post Officepost officeDunn StationlocaleMastodon Mine Post Officepost officePanola StationlocaleStager Stationlocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Mastodon Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Mastodon Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mastodon Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Mastodon Township is a civil township of Iron County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 668, and by 2020 its population was 576. Mastodon was so named from the fact mastodon bones were discovered when sinking a mine shaft. Mastodon may have also been named for the size of the large, iron ore body which was struck at the mine site; as "Mastodon" at that time, being a relatively new discovery, was also being used as a slang adjective, meaning large/huge.

Its first post office opened in 1885. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 656 to 576 (-12%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Mastodon Township, 1885 to 1896

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Mastodon post office opens
  3. 1885Post officeThe Mastodon Mine post office opens
  4. 1888Post officeThe Mastodon post office closes
  5. 1890Post officeThe Dunn Mine post office opens
  6. 1895Post officeThe Dunn Mine post office closes
  7. 1896Post officeThe Mastodon Mine post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the National Register

2 historic places in Mastodon Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
6
each building in a district counts
first listed
1983
First National Bank Building
First National Bank BuildingAlpha Public Buildings Historic Complex
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Classical Revival1
First National Bank BuildingBuilding
All 2 listings
Alpha Public Buildings Historic ComplexDistrict · listed 1983

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Mastodon Township

Nobody well known was born in Mastodon Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Robert J. FlahertyAmerican documentary filmmaker · b. 1884
Delaney SchnellAmerican diver · b. 1998
Nick BaumgartnerAmerican snowboarder · b. 1981
Dan BenishekAmerican politician · b. 1952
N
Nita EnglundAmerican ski jumper · b. 1992
S
Scott BealAmerican actor and director · b. 1890
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Crystal Falls Township2 historic placesB+Stambaugh Township4 historic placesA−Sagola Township1 historic placeB−Mansfield Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBreitung Township1 historic placeB

Questions about Mastodon Township’s history

What year was Mastodon Township founded?

The Mastodon Township post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Mastodon Township?

Two places: the First National Bank Building (listed 1983) and the Alpha Public Buildings Historic Complex (1983).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.