Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #128 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Richard and Mary Woodward Gregory House. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1918 on.
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ross Township is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #128 of 701 in Michigan. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Ross Township’s 6.2 sits above most of its state (78% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Four 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ross Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ross 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 Ross Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ross Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Ross Township is a township in Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,851 at the 2020 census, up from 4,664 at the 2010 census.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,664 to 4,851 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltRichard and Mary Woodward Gregory House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePlat book of Kalamazoo County, Michigan - compiled from surveys and the public records of…One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Ross Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Ross Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Ross Township is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #128 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.
One place: the Richard and Mary Woodward Gregory House (listed 2002).
19% of Ross Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
2023
