Most of Sherman Township was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1959 on, and the census since 1900.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sherman Township is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sherman 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 Sherman 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.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±2.6 points) is firm at this size.
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 →
What stands out about Sherman Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first white settler in the area was Benjamin Hall. In 1862, he built his cabin in what would later become Hanover Township in unorganized Wexford County near the Manistee River. The area was along the Northport State Road, which followed primitive Indian trails leading to the heavily forested areas of Northern Michigan. A bridge was first constructed across the river in 1864, which eventually allowed travel further north to the settlement of Traverse City. In 1867, Lewis J. Clark opened a general store nearby and moved into the area by the following year. Due to the bridge crossing and its location along the river, the new community became known as Manistee Bridge, and a post office opened under that name on February 3, 1868. John Perry served as the first postmaster, and the community was soon renamed Sherman after famed Civil War general William Sherman. The name was chosen…
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 Sherman Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1959White Cloud 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 Sherman 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 viewSherman, MI fire (1909), 1909
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sherman Township’s page.
Sherman Township is more historic than 22% 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.
How old are the homes in Sherman Township?
6% of Sherman Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
1909
2022
2022
