Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #239 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Below: maps from 1927 on and the census since 2000.
The Silver Creek Township post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Silver Creek (1838) and Indian Lake (1852), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Silver Creek Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #239 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Silver Creek 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.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
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 Silver Creek Township’s history is told.
Two 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born herePatrick H. Kelley is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Silver Creek Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Silver Creek Township is a civil township of Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,051 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 1838. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,218 to 3,051 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Silver Creek Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
proceeded to lay out additions to accommodate its expansion, and profit by it. The first of these was Patrick Hamilton, who owned and resided on a farm in the southeast corner of Silver Creek Township. He laid out what was known as Hamilton's First Addition to the village of Dowagiac, in the spring of 1849, the plat being recorded upon the 14th of April.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Silver Creek 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 Silver Creek Township.
Between 3,051 and 3,491 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Silver Creek Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Silver Creek Township post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Silver Creek Township is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #239 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.
22% of Silver Creek Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (3), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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