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History · St. James Township

St. James Township’s post office opened in 1895, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of St. James Township was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listing is the Mormon Print Shop.

1895first post office
1on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How St. James Township began

When was St. James Township founded?

1895

The St. James Township post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, High Island (1913), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 259131 years
Founding year: the first St. James Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about St. James 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 writtenNo old photos of St. James Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. James Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How St. James Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. James Township.

Read it all →

The community was settled as early as 1847 when James Jesse Strang took over his Mormon church and settled his colony on Beaver Island. Originally part of Michilimackinac County, it received a post office named Beaver Island on January 13, 1849, with Charles Wright serving as the first postmaster. Strang named the new community after himself, and the post office was renamed St. James on October 10, 1854, when it became part of Emmet County. Strang declared himself to be a king—the only king ever crowned in the United States. After Strang's murder in 1856 by disgruntled followers, the community began to fold, and the post office closed on March 6, 1868. Charles Wright restored the post office under the name Beaver Island on December 19, 1868, and served again as postmaster. During the 1870s, St. James was also referred as Beaver Harbor. By 1895, the Mormons left the island, and St…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. James Township, 1850 to 1914

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850BuiltMormon Print Shop is built
  3. 1895Post officeThe Saint James post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1913Post officeThe High Island post office opens
  6. 1914Post officeThe High Island post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

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On the National Register

1 historic place in St. James Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1971
Mormon Print Shop
Mormon Print Shop, built 1850
Buildings
Mormon Print ShopBuilt 1850

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Saint James
1895–today
High Island
1913–1914
18901960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint James
Gone or out of use
High Island Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside St. James Township
IndianIndianSaint James Township

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Peaine Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about St. James Township’s history

What year was St. James Township founded?

The St. James Township post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in St. James Township?

One place: the Mormon Print Shop (listed 1971).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.