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History · Mentor Township

Mentor Township’s post office opened in 1882

Most of Mentor Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983.

1882first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Mentor Township began

When was Mentor Township founded?

1882

The Mentor Township post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Mentor (1882), Rondo (1882) and Wildwood (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 857144 years
Founding year: the first Mentor Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Mentor Township’s 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 Mentor Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Mentor Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mentor Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mentor Township’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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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Mentor
1882–1884
Rondo
1882–1917
Wildwood
1884–1914
Haakwood
1901–1908
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
HaakwoodRondoWildwood
Gone or out of use
Haakwood Post Officepost officeHaakwood Post Officepost officeHaakwood StationlocaleRondo Post Officepost officeRondo StationlocaleWildwood Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mentor Township
Indian River Catholic ShrineRondo

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

The story so far

Mentor Township, in brief

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

Mentor Township is a civil township of Cheboygan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 857 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1882. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 818 to 857 (+5%).

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

Timeline

Mentor Township, 1882 to 1917

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Mentor post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Rondo post office opens
  4. 1884Post officeThe Mentor post office closes
  5. 1884Post officeThe Wildwood post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1914Post officeThe Wildwood post office closes
  8. 1917Post officeThe Rondo 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.
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Famous people

Famous people close to Mentor Township

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

See all →
Claude ShannonAmerican mathematician and information theorist · b. 1916
Megan BooneAmerican actress · b. 1983
David MalpassAmerican economist · b. 1956
H
Hal SmithAmerican actor · b. 1916
Bruce CattonAmerican historian and journalist · b. 1899
F
Frank FosterAmerican politician from Michigan · b. 1986
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Tuscarora Township1 historic placeBEllis TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWilmot TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndian RiverIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSpringvale TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Mentor Township’s history

What year was Mentor Township founded?

The Mentor Township post office opened in 1882, 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 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.