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PortlandMIHDAPhoto: Andrew Jameson · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Portland Township

1 of Portland Township’s places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Portland First Congregational Church. Most of Portland Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1945 on, and the census since 1860.

1on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Portland Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Portland 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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Portland Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Portland Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Portland 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 viewPortland, Mich: 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

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Maple
1838–1901
Kossuth
1855–1868
Collins
1871–1911
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CollinsSunset Ridge Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Collins Post Officepost officeCollins StationlocaleKossuth Post Officepost officeMaple Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Portland Township
Brown GraveMusser

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

The story

How Portland Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Portland Township.

Read it all →

According to government records, the first land that was owned in what is now known as Portland was owned by Elisha Newman in 1833. Ionia County histories say that Philo Bogue built a trading post on the Grand River later that year, the Bogue Flats Recreation Area now being named for him. The first post office arrived in 1837. Portland has been home to several Native American tribes, and was the dwelling-place of John Okemos in the 1850s.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Portland Township, 1838 to 1945

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1838Post officeThe Maple post office opens
  3. 1855Post officeThe Kossuth post office opens
  4. 1868Post officeThe Kossuth post office closes
  5. 1871Post officeThe Collins post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1901Post officeThe Maple post office closes
  8. 1907In the archivePortland, Mich
  9. 1911Post officeThe Collins post office closes
  10. 1945On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Portland Township, decade by decade

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

1900s2 items
Portland, Mich1907Portland, MichPortland, Mich1907Portland, Mich
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
Today4 recent
Portland High School (Portland, Michigan)2017Portland High School (Portland, Michigan)Portland Michigan Carnegie Library2014Portland Michigan Carnegie LibraryChief okemos grave stone Portland Mi 2014-05-13 00-292014Chief okemos grave stone Portland Mi 2014-05-13 00-29MIMap-doton-Portland2005MIMap-doton-Portland
On the map

Portland Township on the map, 1945 to 1978

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Portland Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Portland Township on the 1945 USGS mapPortland Township on the 1978 USGS map1945Portland 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 Portland Township.

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.

Portland, Mich
Retake this viewPortland, Mich, 1907

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Portland Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Portland First Congregational Church
Portland First Congregational Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Portland First Congregational ChurchGreek Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Portland Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,000190019502000Peak: 3,963

Between 440 and 3,963 people in every census since 1860.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Portland Township’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Portland2 historic placesA+Danby TownshipIts storyC+Lyons Township1 historic placeA−Westphalia TownshipIts storyB−Orange TownshipIts storyB−

Questions about Portland Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Portland Township?

One place: the Portland First Congregational Church (listed 1984).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (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.