Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Joseph M. Loop House, the Port Sanilac Light Station and the Port Sanilac Masonic and Town Hall. Its Register listings are the Joseph M. Loop House, the Port Sanilac Light Station and the Port Sanilac Masonic and Town Hall.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sanilac Township is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. 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 Sanilac Township’s 17.1 sits above most of its state (86% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sanilac Township’s history is told.
Three 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sanilac Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Sanilac Township is a civil township of Sanilac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,301 at the 2020 census. The village of Port Sanilac is within the township.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,431 to 2,301 (-5%).
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.
BuiltPort Sanilac Light Station is builtWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The 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 Sanilac Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Sanilac Township is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. 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.
Three places: the Joseph M. Loop House (listed 1972), the Port Sanilac Light Station (1984) and the Port Sanilac Masonic and Town Hall (1996).
20% of Sanilac 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 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 the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
