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A−History
History · Menominee

Menominee’s post office opened in 1863, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #106 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it

5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 40 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.

1863first post office
5on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
9old photos & papers
16famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Menominee’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Menominee began

When was Menominee founded?

1863

The Menominee post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,597 in 18702020 census: 8,488163 years

How historic is Menominee?

A−

More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Menominee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Menominee’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Menominee is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #106 of 701 in Michigan. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Menominee’s overall grade.
Founding era1863, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194036.1% of homes (±5.2) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%ANational Register5 listings, 43 historic buildings, 51.6 per 10,000 residents · typical MI town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 84%
NewerOlder
Michigan towns of 2,500+ (701)Ahead of 85%

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 Menominee’s 51.6 sits above most of its state (91% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 43 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.

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 (±5.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 Menominee’s past

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

Mapped building by building7 fire insurance maps, 1884 to 1921, drew every building in Menominee.A historic districtThe First Street Historic District takes in 40 historic buildings.Boom and bustPeaked at 12,818 in 1900; 8,488 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Menominee’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Every building

Menominee, building by building, 1884–1921

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Menominee fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 1 of 9
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

5 listings protect 43 historic buildings

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

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
43
each building in a district counts
first listed
1974
First Street Historic District
First Street Historic DistrictMenominee County CourthouseChicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad StationSt. John the Baptist Catholic ChurchMenominee Pierhead Light Station
BuildingsDistrictsStructures

Architectural styles listings

Romanesque1
Beaux Arts1
Mansardian1
Classical1
Late Gothic Revival1
First Street Historic DistrictRomanesque
Menominee County CourthouseClassical
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad StationBuilding
St. John the Baptist Catholic ChurchLate Gothic Revival
Menominee Pierhead Light StationStructure

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

People over time

Menominee, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 12,818

Peaked at 12,818 in 1900; 8,488 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

The story

How Menominee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Menominee.

Read it all →

In historic times, this area was the traditional territory of the Menominee Indian Tribe. The town of Menominee was named after their English name which roughly translates as "wild rice," a nickname given to them by their Ojibwe neighbors based on their cultivation of wild rice as a staple food. In their own language, they are known as Mamaceqtaw which means simply "the people", and the town of Menominee is known as Menekaunee (sometimes spelled Menīkāneh), which means "at the good village". They were removed to west of the Mississippi River and now have a reservation along the Wolf River in North Central Wisconsin after ceding their territory to the United States in the 1836 Treaty of the Cedars.

ChaptersSports

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Menominee, 1863 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1863Post officeThe Menominee post office opens
  3. 1878Born hereJohn McLean is born here
  4. 1880In the archiveLogging on the river
  5. 1892Born hereMalcolm Waite is born here
  6. 1895Born hereKathleen Kirkham is born here
  7. 1898In the archiveMenominee, Mich., logging on the river
  8. 1898Born hereMitchell Leisen is born here
  9. 20th century
  10. 1900CensusPopulation peaks at 12,818
  11. 1907In the archiveDiffusion-batteries where juice is extracted from sugar-beets
  12. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  13. 1980In the archiveMenominee Abstract & Land Co
By decade

Menominee, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s–1900s5 items
Logging on the river1880Logging on the riverLoading lumber on steamer at lumberyards1880Loading lumber on steamer at lumberyardsMenominee, Mich., logging on the river1898Menominee, Mich., logging on the riverLoading lumber on steamer at lumberyards1898Loading lumber on steamer at lumberyardsDiffusion-batteries where juice is extracted from sugar-beets1907Diffusion-batteries where juice is extracted from sug…
1910s–1970snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1980s4 items
Menominee Abstract & Land Co1980Menominee Abstract & Land CoPaalzon Block, First Street1980Paalzon Block, First StreetRose Beauty Salon1980Rose Beauty SalonShell Gas1980Shell Gas
1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today8 recent
MenomineeMichiganUSRoute412007MenomineeMichiganUSRoute41MenomineeMichiganSign2007MenomineeMichiganSignMenomineeMichiganMarina2007MenomineeMichiganMarinaMenomineeMichiganLibrary2007MenomineeMichiganLibraryMenomineeMichiganGreatLakesMarinaPark2007MenomineeMichiganGreatLakesMarinaParkMenomineeMichiganFirstNationalBank2007MenomineeMichiganFirstNationalBankMenominee park2006Menominee parkInterstate Bridge MWMM2005Interstate Bridge MWMM
On the map

Menominee on the map, 1963 to 1981

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

Menominee on the 1963 USGS mapMenominee on the 1976 USGS mapMenominee on the 1981 USGS map1963Marinette East sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Menominee.

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.

Logging on the river
Retake this viewLogging on the river, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Menominee’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

16 famous people were born in Menominee

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Mitchell LeisenAmerican film director · b. 1898
John McLeanAmerican athlete and coach · b. 1878
Kathleen KirkhamActress · b. 1895
Malcolm WaiteAmerican actor · b. 1892
Doris PackerAmerican actress · b. 1904
B
Bill RademacherAmerican football player and coach · b. 1942
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Menominee’s post office has been open since 1863.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Bayside Mobile Estates
Gone or out of use
Menominee Area Historical Markerpark
1cemetery inside Menominee
Riverside

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

Help out

Finish Menominee’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLogging on the river: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Menominee TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Menominee’s history

What year was Menominee founded?

The Menominee post office opened in 1863, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Menominee rank for history?

Menominee is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #106 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 Menominee?

5 listings: 3 buildings, 1 historic district, the First Street Historic District, with 40 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 43 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Menominee?

36% of Menominee’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1953.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (12), the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.