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Redridge Steel Dam UpstreamPhoto: Phoenix-Five · CC BY-SA 4.0
A−History
History · Stanton Township

21% of Stanton Township’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 80% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Redridge Steel and Log Dams. Below: maps from 1954 on.

1on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

About Stanton Township’s history

How historic is Stanton Township?

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More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Stanton Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Stanton Township is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Stanton Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 80%
NewerOlder

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 Stanton Township’s 6.7 sits above most of its state (79% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points).

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 Stanton Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Oskar
1881–1928
Redridge
1895–1957
Beacon Hill
1901–1952
Freda
1907–1964
Liminga
1908–1926
Onnela
1909–1925
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Beacon HillFredaLimingaOskarRedridgeSalmon TroutSchmidt Corner
Gone or out of use
Beacon Hill Post Officepost officeBeacon Hill StationlocaleFreda Post Officepost officeFreda StationlocaleLiminga Post Officepost officeOnnela Post Officepost officeOskar Post Officepost officeRedridge Post Officepost officeRedridge Stationlocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Stanton Township
OskarRedridgeToivola

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

Help out

Start Stanton Township’s collection

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

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

Stanton Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Stanton Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Stanton Township is a civil township of Houghton County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,590 as of the 2020 census. Stanton Township holds the distinction of having the highest concentration of people with Finnish ancestry of any place in the United States at 47%.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 1,419 to 1,590 (+12%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Stanton Township, 1881 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Oskar post office opens
  3. 1895Post officeThe Redridge post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1901Post officeThe Beacon Hill post office opens
  6. 1928Post officeThe Oskar post office closes
  7. 1952Post officeThe Beacon Hill post office closes
  8. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1957Post officeThe Redridge 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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Stanton Township on the map, 1954 to 1975

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

Stanton Township on the 1954 USGS mapStanton Township on the 1975 USGS map1954Graveraet River sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Stanton Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Stanton 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
1992
Redridge Steel and Log Dams

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Stanton Township

Nobody well known was born in Stanton Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Stanton Township’s history

How does Stanton Township rank for history?

Stanton Township is more historic than 80% 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.

What is on the National Register in Stanton Township?

One place: the Redridge Steel and Log Dams (listed 1992).

How old are the homes in Stanton Township?

21% of Stanton Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1977.

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).

From Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.