Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: maps from 1989 on.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Stambaugh Township is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Stambaugh Township’s 65.4 sits above most of its state (92% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% 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 Stambaugh 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).
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Stambaugh Township.
The settlemented was platted in 1882 and named for John Stambaugh, president of the Todd, Stambaugh Co., who had recently purchased the Iron River Mine, which was located at the townsite. The city incorporated in 1890, and John Stambaugh became its first village president. The village incorporated as a city in 1923.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
2024Former Stambaugh, MI city hall (now in Iron River, MI…
2017John Swanson House NRHP 83003761 Iron County, MI
2017John S McLean House NRHP 83003729 Iron County, MI
2017Charles Stolberg House NRHP 83003751 Iron County, MI
2014Louis Levine house
2014John Harris House, Iron River Michigan
2014John Hanson House Lindstrom House, Iron River Michigan
2014George Hamilton House, Stambaugh Iron River Michigan
2014District Superintendent's House, M.A. Hanna Mining co…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Stambaugh 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 Stambaugh Township.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Stambaugh Township is more historic than 77% 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.
4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Nels A. Holmes Farmstead (listed 1983, the first), 1 historic district, the Van Platen-Fox Lumber Camp Historic Complex, with 4 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 8 historic buildings in all.
11% of Stambaugh Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (9), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
