Founding year: the first Ontonagon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Ontonagon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ontonagon is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ontonagon’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 Ontonagon’s 29.5 sits above most of its state (88% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.7 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 Ontonagon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ontonagon yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ontonagon ( ON-tə-NAH-gən is a village in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,285 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Ontonagon County, and is the only incorporated place within the county. The village is located within Ontonagon Township, at the mouth of the Ontonagon River on Lake Superior. Industry was centered on the Smurfit-Stone Container production facility at the river mouth until the plant closed in 2010.
Its first post office opened in 1846. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,494 to 1,285 (-14%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
By decade
Ontonagon, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The Ontonagon post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ontonagon rank for history?
Ontonagon is more historic than 93% 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 Ontonagon?
33% of Ontonagon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (4), Wikidata (2) and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
c. 1870
2006
2005
2004