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History · Orient Township

Orient Township’s post office opened in 1900, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1900 on.

1900first post office
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Orient Township began

When was Orient Township founded?

1900

The Orient Township post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Chippewa Station (1878) and Orient (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 733126 years
Founding year: the first Orient Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Orient 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 writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Orient Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Orient Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Orient Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPlat book of Osceola County, Michigan: stand where they stood+15Share 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.

Sears
1871–today
Chippewa Station
1878–1925
Orient
1900–1911
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
ChippewaGibos CornersSears
Gone or out of use
Chippewa StationlocaleChippewa Station Post Officepost officeOrient Post Officepost officeSears Stationlocale
1cemetery inside Orient Township
Orient

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

The story so far

Orient Township, in brief

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

Orient Township is a civil township of Osceola County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 733 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1900. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 773 to 733 (-5%).

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

Timeline

Orient Township, 1871 to 1925

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Sears post office opens
  3. 1878Post officeThe Chippewa Station post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900In the archivePlat book of Osceola County, Michigan
  6. 1900Post officeThe Orient post office opens
  7. 1911Post officeThe Orient post office closes
  8. 1925Post officeThe Chippewa Station post office closes
By decade

Orient Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Plat book of Osceola County, Michigan1900Plat book of Osceola County, Michigan
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
Orient Township, Michigan2026Orient Township, Michigan
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Plat book of Osceola County, Michigan
Retake this viewPlat book of Osceola County, Michigan, 1900

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Orient Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Orient Township

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

See all →
Don GrossAmerican baseball player · b. 1931
E
Eugene L. DersnahAmerican sports coach and educator · b. 1888
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Sylvan TownshipIts storyC−Garfield TownshipIts storyC−Evart TownshipIts storyCFork TownshipIts storyC

Questions about Orient Township’s history

What year was Orient Township founded?

The Orient Township post office opened in 1900, 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.