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History · South Haven Township

South Haven Township dates to 1869

Most of South Haven Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1927 on, and the census since 1860.

1869founded
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From South Haven Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How South Haven Township began

When was South Haven Township founded?

1869

South Haven Township dates its founding to 1869 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 308 in 18602020 census: 4,041157 years
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1901.The full story ↓

What stands out about South Haven Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 6,471 in 1970; 3,964 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s South Haven Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start South Haven Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how South Haven Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPassmore Wickson-plum-1896: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

South Haven Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,5007,000190019502000Peak: 6,471

Peaked at 6,471 in 1970; 3,964 people lived here in 2020.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on South Haven Township’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Another post office, Packard, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Maple Grove CornersMitchell Brothers Mobile Home ParkPleasant View Estates Mobile Home ParkSulphur Springs
Gone or out of use
Packard Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How South Haven Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of South Haven Township.

Read it all →

Prior to colonization by settlers, the area was inhabited at different times by Potawatomi and Iroquois native people. In 1833, the U.S. government granted Jay R. Monroe a land patent for 65 acres of land along the shore of Lake Michigan. In the 1850s the first permanent settlers arrived, and early in the decade the first steam sawmills were built on the Black River. About this time, the settlement gained its first merchant, physician, lawyer, and minister, and the first schoolhouse was built. The first bank was organized in 1867. South Haven was incorporated as a village in 1869, and as a city in 1902. South Haven was named in relation to nearby Grand Haven.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

South Haven Township, 1869 to 1970

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869
    FoundingSouth Haven Township is established
  3. 1896In the archivePassmore Wickson-plum-1896
  4. 20th century
  5. 1901Post officeThe Packard post office opens
  6. 1905Post officeThe Packard post office closes
  7. 1910In the archiveChicago Mail Boat Postcard 1910 (Front)
  8. 1927On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1932In the archivePomological Watercolor POM00006505
  10. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 6,471
By decade

South Haven Township, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1930s4 items
Passmore Wickson-plum-18961896Passmore Wickson-plum-1896Pomological Watercolor POM000036241898Pomological Watercolor POM00003624Chicago Mail Boat Postcard 1910 (Front)1910Chicago Mail Boat Postcard 1910 (Front)PostcardPomological Watercolor POM000065051932Pomological Watercolor POM00006505
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
On the map

South Haven Township on the map, 1927 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of South Haven Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

South Haven Township on the 1927 USGS mapSouth Haven Township on the 1930 USGS mapSouth Haven Township on the 1943 USGS mapSouth Haven Township on the 1981 USGS map1927South Haven 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 South Haven 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.

Passmore Wickson-plum-1896
Retake this viewPassmore Wickson-plum-1896, 1896

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on South Haven Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

South Haven3 historic placesB+Geneva TownshipIts storyC+Covert TownshipIts storyC+

Questions about South Haven Township’s history

What year was South Haven Township founded?

In 1869, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. South Haven Township’s post office opened in 1901, and the census of 1860 counted 308 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), 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.