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History · Norwood Township

Norwood Township’s post office opened in 1869, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1954 on.

1869first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Norwood Township began

When was Norwood Township founded?

1869

The Norwood Township post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Norwood (1869) and Inwood (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 700157 years
Founding year: the first Norwood Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Norwood 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 Norwood Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Norwood Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Norwood Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Norwood 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
Places that used to be

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

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

Norwood
1869–1913
Inwood
1879–1904
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Norwood
Gone or out of use
Inwood Post Officepost officeManthei PitmineNorwood Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Norwood Township
Norwood

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

The story

How Norwood Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Norwood Township.

Read it all →

The area was settled as early as 1867 when Orvis Wood and Lucius Pearl, and Orin Adams built a dock and sawmill here. At the time, it was part of Emmet County, as Charlevoix County was not organized in 1869. The following year, William Harris built a hotel, and it became an important shipping location. Harris served as the first postmaster when a post office opened on February 1, 1868. The name Norwood was chosen due to its located in the northern woods. The post office operated until April 30, 1913.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Norwood Township, 1869 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869Post officeThe Norwood post office opens
  3. 1879Post officeThe Inwood post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1904Post officeThe Inwood post office closes
  6. 1913Post officeThe Norwood post office closes
  7. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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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On the map

Norwood Township on the map, 1954 to 1983

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

Norwood Township on the 1954 USGS mapNorwood Township on the 1983 USGS map1954Charlevoix 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 Norwood Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Marion Township1 historic placeA−Banks TownshipIts storyB−Charlevoix Township1 historic placeC

Questions about Norwood Township’s history

What year was Norwood Township founded?

The Norwood Township post office opened in 1869, 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 →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.