Half of Munising Township’s homes were built after 1982
More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #681 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Munising Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1880.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Munising Township is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #681 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Munising 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 Munising Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 (±1.7 points) is firm at this size.
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 Munising Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Hallston Post Officepost officeHallston StationlocaleJenney Post Officepost officeJenney StationlocaleMelstrand Post Officepost officeMelstrand StationlocalePetrel Post Officepost officePetrel StationlocaleReedsboro Post Officepost officeReedsboro Stationlocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Munising Township
Maple GroveMunising TownshipReilly's Graves
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Munising Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Munising Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The area encompassing Munising has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Ojibwe and Noquet, who used the low lying grasslands opposite Grand Island to harvest blueberries and other crops. The name for the city comes from the Ojibwe word minisiing, meaning "at the island". A post office was established as the Munising post office on December 22, 1868. It was renamed as Gogarnville on October 23, 1889, when Julius Gogarn was appointed as postmaster. The office was moved to his farm. He was a German-born American Civil War veteran and first Supervisor of Munising Township. That post office continued until July 15, 1893.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Munising Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1958Munising 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 Munising Township.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Munising Township is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #681 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.
How old are the homes in Munising Township?
3% of Munising Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
c. 2005
2004
2004
2004
