Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1834.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Saline Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Saline Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #305 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Saline 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 Saline 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.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1832.
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 (±5.2 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Saline Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Before the 18th century, Native Americans traveled to what is now Saline to hunt wildlife and gather salt from the salt springs they found nearby. In the 18th century, French explorers canoed up to the area and also harvested the salt. They named the local river Saline ("salty"). Europeans settled the area in the 19th century, most of them from England and Germany. Together with Orange Risdon, a government surveyor generally considered the city's founder, the residents named the settlement Saline, which was officially established in 1832. The settlement was incorporated as a village in 1866. In 1870 railroad service, provided by the Detroit-Hillsdale-&-Indiana Railroad, first reached Saline. In 1875 Salinians built one of the city's most famous landmarks, the Second-Empire frame, 2+1⁄2-story residential building, the Davenport House, sometimes referred to as Curtis Mansion.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Saline Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1906Saline 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 Saline 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.
Retake this viewMiller-Walker House Saline MI, 1922
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Saline Township’s page.
In 1832, according to Wikidata. Saline Township’s post office opened in 1834, and the census of 1880 counted 858 people here.
How does Saline Township rank for history?
Saline Township is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #305 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 Saline Township?
15% of Saline Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 2001.
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 (3), Wikidata (3), 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.
