Founding year: the first Pinconning post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pinconning’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pinconning is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pinconning’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 Pinconning’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.7 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 Pinconning’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The name, "Pinconning," comes from the Ojibwe Opinikaaning (syncope as Pinkaaning; recorded as "o-pin-nic-con-ing"), which translates into English as, "potato place." The community is named after the Pinconning River, which flows through the community.
The town was first colonized in 1872 by George VanEtten and Henry Kaiser as a lumber settlement along the Pinconning River. The post office in Pinconning opened on January 29, 1873. In 1907 a man named William Reid moved to Pinconning, and started Pinconning Creamery. A gravel road between Pinconning and neighboring Standish was built in 1918, the same year the prohibition had taken effect.
Passages that mention Pinconning, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Bay County, Michigan1905 · page 316Read the page →
Read the text
The first school at Pinconning was taught for the children of a few fishermen and Indians in the old mission church at the mouth of the Pinconning River. In 1869 a small frame building became the village school house. A more commodious and modern school building replaced it in 1875, when M. R. Hartwell began his duties, which extended over more than
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Bay County, Michigan1905 · page 235Read the page →
Read the text
The shore line railroad, projected as early as 1882, became a reality in 1897, when the Detroit & Mackinac Railway was built from here to Alpena, via Pinconning, Turner, Twining, Onier, East Tawas, Tawas City, Au Sable, Harrisville and Black River. In 1904 this road was extended to Cheboygan, whose citizens celebrated the event by a monster excursion to
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Pinconning, 1873 to 1989
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
The Pinconning post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Pinconning rank for history?
Pinconning is more historic than 43% 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 Pinconning?
21% of Pinconning’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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