On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Plainfield Township is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #645 of 701 in Michigan. 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 Plainfield Township’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 Plainfield 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.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Plainfield Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Austerlitz
1841–1910
Mill Creek
1848–1906
Belmont
1869–today
Imperial Mills
1874–1876
Childsdale
1900–1921
Comstock Park
1906–today
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BelmontBrook Haven Mobile Home ParkChildsdaleComstock ParkHilltop Mobile Home ParkLeisure Village Mobile Home ParkNorthern Estates Mobile Home Village NorthNorthern Estates Mobile Village SouthNorthviewSpring Valley Mobile Home ParkWoodland Estates Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Austerlitz Post Officepost officeBelmont StationlocaleChildsdale Post Officepost officeChildsdale StationlocaleImperial Mills Post Officepost office
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Plainfield Township
Blythefield Memory GardensFriantOakwoodPlainfield Township Cemetery and ColumbariumSaint Mary's
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Plainfield Township’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Plainfield Township’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Plainfield Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1918Cedar Springs 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 Plainfield Township.
The story so far
Plainfield Township, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Plainfield Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Plainfield Charter Township is a charter township of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 33,535 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area and is bordered by Grand Rapids on the south.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 30,952 to 33,535 (+8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Plainfield Township, 1841 to 1918
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Plainfield Township is more historic than 20% of U.S. towns, #645 of 701 in Michigan. 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 Plainfield Township?
5% of Plainfield Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1985.
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 Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
