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BHistory
History · New Buffalo

New Buffalo’s post office opened in 1837, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1970 on and the census since 1870.

1837first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How New Buffalo began

When was New Buffalo founded?

1837

The New Buffalo post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 683 in 18702020 census: 1,708189 years

How historic is New Buffalo?

B

More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives New Buffalo’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Buffalo is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Buffalo’s overall grade.
Founding era1837, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194018.5% of homes (±5.0) · typical MI town 11.9% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MI town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 61%
NewerOlder

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 New Buffalo’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 any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 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 New Buffalo’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 New Buffalo are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 2,821 in 1980; 1,708 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of New Buffalo.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start New Buffalo’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Buffalo’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
People over time

New Buffalo, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,821

Peaked at 2,821 in 1980; 1,708 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Timeline

New Buffalo, 1837 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe New Buffalo post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1970On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 2,821
The story

How New Buffalo came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of New Buffalo.

Read it all →

The area around the mouth of the Galien River was originally populated by Miami and Potawatomi peoples. Later, French missionaries visited the area on their search for the fabled Northwest Passage. The area remained sparsely populated, even as Michigan Territory was petitioning for statehood.

In 1834 a sea-captain from Buffalo, New York—Wessel Whittaker—and his crew were shipwrecked on the Lake Michigan coast south of the Galien River outlet. As they headed back to Saint Joseph to report the loss of their ship, Whittaker noticed the possibilities of the New Buffalo area as a potential harbor. He purchased the land around the river-mouth and with various family members in tow, returned and named his new settlement New Buffalo.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

New Buffalo, decade by decade

Today12 recent
Main street P73100332004Main street P7310033Main street P73100302004Main street P7310030Main street P73100092004Main street P7310009Harborview Condos P73100072004Harborview Condos P7310007Harborview Condos P73100042004Harborview Condos P7310004Harbor P73100262004Harbor P7310026Harbor P73100252004Harbor P7310025Harbor P73100242004Harbor P7310024Harbor P73100212004Harbor P7310021Harbor Country Emporium P73100062004Harbor Country Emporium P7310006Bridge to Harbor (over tracks) P73100202004Bridge to Harbor (over tracks) P7310020Art Alley P73100312004Art Alley P7310031
On the map

New Buffalo on the map, 1970 to 1983

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

New Buffalo on the 1970 USGS mapNew Buffalo on the 1983 USGS map1970New Buffalo 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 New Buffalo.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

New Buffalo TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about New Buffalo’s history

What year was New Buffalo founded?

The New Buffalo post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does New Buffalo rank for history?

New Buffalo is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns. 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 New Buffalo?

19% of New Buffalo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1973.

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), 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.