Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1932 on, and the census since 1880.
The Pere Marquette Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Pere Marquette (1855) and Buttersville (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pere Marquette Township is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Pere Marquette Township’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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
5 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
c. 1891Pere Marquette Lumber Company store
1894Epworth Heights Hotel, 1894
c. 1895Epworth League Railway, ca 1895
c. 1905Epworth Heights Hotel
1905Stearns Hotel 1905
c. 1908Epworth Heights beach
1908Greetings from Ludington, Mich. Pere Marquette passen…
1908Ludington Dummy train c1908
1909Longfellow School 1909
c. 1909Ludington & Northern RailroadFrom Wikipedia’s history of Pere Marquette Township.
In 1675, Father Jacques Marquette, French missionary and explorer, died and was laid to rest near the modern site of Ludington. A memorial and 40-foot (12 m) iron cross were built in 1955 to mark the location.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveLake House hotel 1877
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Michigan - Mason County - Ludington - ED 53-13, E…In the archivePere Marquette Lumber Company storeIn the archiveEpworth Heights Hotel
In the archivePere Marquette 18 iced up in Ludington
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pere Marquette Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pere Marquette Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pere Marquette Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 4,190 and 9,506 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pere Marquette Township’s Wikipedia page.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Pere Marquette Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pere Marquette Township is more historic than 39% 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.
18% of Pere Marquette Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1977.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (17), Wikidata (1), 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.
1880
c. 1880
1880
1882
