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History · Raber Township

Raber Township’s post office opened in 1889

Most of Raber Township was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1964 on.

1889first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Raber Township began

When was Raber Township founded?

1889

The Raber Township post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Stalwart (1881), Gatesville (1882) and Pointe Au Frene (1888), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 632137 years
Founding year: the first Raber Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Raber Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Raber Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Raber Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Stalwart
1881–1995
Gatesville
1882–1917
Pointe Au Frene
1888–1889
Raber
1889–1954
Lime Island
1891–1939
Goetzville
1917–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GoetzvilleRaberStalwart
Gone or out of use
Lime Island Post Officepost officeRaber Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Raber Township
AndersonGoetzville / Saint StanislausStalwart

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

Help out

Start Raber Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Raber Township, in brief

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

Raber Township is a civil township of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 632 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1889. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 647 to 632 (-2%).

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

Timeline

Raber Township, 1881 to 1995

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Stalwart post office opens
  3. 1882Post officeThe Gatesville post office opens
  4. 1888Born hereWilliam M. Forgrave is born here
  5. 1888Post officeThe Pointe Au Frene post office opens
  6. 1889Post officeThe Pointe Au Frene post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1917Post officeThe Gatesville post office closes
  9. 1964On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1995Post officeThe Stalwart post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Raber Township on the map, 1964 to 1984

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

Raber Township on the 1964 USGS mapRaber Township on the 1984 USGS map1964Stalwart sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Raber Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Soo TownshipIts storyCPickford Township1 historic placeBDetour TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townClark Township1 historic placeB+

Questions about Raber Township’s history

What year was Raber Township founded?

The Raber Township post office opened in 1889, 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 →
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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 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.