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History · Oliver Township

Half of Oliver Township’s homes were built after 1978

Most of Oliver Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: maps from 1956 on.

0on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Oliver 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 Oliver Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Oliver Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Oliver Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oliver 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

Another post office, Sigma, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
AnglingO'NeilSigma
Gone or out of use
Sigma Post Officepost officeSigma Stationlocale
1cemetery inside Oliver Township
Oliver

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

The story so far

Oliver Township, in brief

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

Oliver Township is a civil township of Kalkaska County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 292 at the 2020 census, making it the least-populous township in Kalkaska County. Oliver Township is part of the Traverse City micropolitan area, and is considered part of Northern Michigan.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 281 to 292 (+4%).

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

Timeline

Oliver Township, 1914 to 1956

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1914Post officeThe Sigma post office opens
  3. 1929Post officeThe Sigma post office closes
  4. 1956On 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

Oliver Township on the map, 1956 to 1985

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

Oliver Township on the 1956 USGS mapOliver Township on the 1985 USGS map1956Kalkaska 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 Oliver Township.

Famous people

Famous people close to Oliver Township

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

See all →
Jim HarrisonAmerican poet, novelist, and essayist · b. 1937
Luke JensenUS tennis player · b. 1966
N
Norman Z. McLeodAmerican film director · b. 1895
E
Emil FriskProfessional baseball player · b. 1874
S
Steven DammanUnsolved 1955 disappearance of American boy · b. 1950
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Excelsior TownshipIts storyC−Orange TownshipIts storyC−Bear Lake TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Oliver Township’s history

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 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.