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Philetus S. Church HousePhiletus S. Church House · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Sugar Island Township

Sugar Island Township’s post office opened in 1857, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Philetus S. Church House. Its Register listing is the Philetus S. Church House. Below: 3 old photos and papers and maps from 1919 on.

1857first post office
1on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sugar Island Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sugar Island Township began

When was Sugar Island Township founded?

1857

The Sugar Island Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Seven smaller post offices, Sugar Island (1857), Payment (1892) and Homestead (1906), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 653169 years
Founding year: the first Sugar Island Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Sugar Island Township’s past

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

Lost villages7 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Sugar Island Township, and 5 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19193 editions of the USGS map, 1919 to 1976. Watch Sugar Island Township change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Sugar Island
1857–1861
Payment
1892–1942
Homestead
1906–1945
Baie De Wasai
1908–1911
Brassar
1911–1939
Baie De Wasai
1915–1943
Willwalk
1917–1929
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Baie de WasaiBrassarChurchvilleHomesteadPayment
Gone or out of use
Baie de Wasai Post Officepost officeBrassar Post Officepost officeHomestead Post Officepost officePayment Post Officepost office
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sugar Island Township
Bai - De - WasaiBrasser RoadDuck IslandFinnishGem IslandPaymentWilwalk

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

Help out

Start Sugar Island Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo2 archive items have no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewSugar Island Lighthouse, Sugar Island, …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Sugar Island Township on the map, 1919 to 1976

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

Sugar Island Township on the 1919 USGS mapSugar Island Township on the 1951 USGS mapSugar Island Township on the 1976 USGS map1919Neebish 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 Sugar Island Township.

The story so far

Sugar Island Township, in brief

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

Sugar Island is an island in the U.S. state of Michigan in the St. Marys River between the United States and the Canadian province of Ontario. The entire island constitutes Sugar Island Township in Chippewa County at the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula. According to the 2000 census there were 683 people living on a land area of 128 square kilometers (49 square miles); about 14 people per square mile.

Its first post office opened in 1857. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 652 in 2010, 653 in 2020.

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

Timeline

Sugar Island Township, 1857 to 1945

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Sugar Island post office opens
  3. 1861Post officeThe Sugar Island post office closes
  4. 1892Post officeThe Payment post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1900In the archiveSugar Island Lighthouse, Sugar Island, Michigan (approximately 1900) - DPLA - 1b1f11bd949…
  7. 1906Post officeThe Homestead post office opens
  8. 1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1942Post officeThe Payment post office closes
  10. 1945Post officeThe Homestead post office closes
By decade

Sugar Island Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Sugar Island Lighthouse, Sugar Island, Michigan (approximately 1900) - DPLA - 1b1f11bd9494e446f4b4e9f55c1944f71900Sugar Island Lighthouse, Sugar Island, Michigan (appr…
1910s–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
Date unknown2 to date
Islands in Lake ErieDate?Islands in Lake ErieMost islands of Lake Erie, NOAADate?Most islands of Lake Erie, NOAA
Today3 recent
Sault Ste Marie, Ontario and Michigan2011Sault Ste Marie, Ontario and MichiganNeebish Island, Michigan2011Neebish Island, MichiganSault Ste Marie (ASTER)2007Sault Ste Marie (ASTER)
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.

Sugar Island Lighthouse, Sugar Island, Michigan (approximately 1900) - DPLA - 1b1f11bd9494e446f4b4e9f55c1944f7
Retake this viewSugar Island Lighthouse, Sugar Island, Michigan (approximately 1900) - DPLA - 1b1f11bd9494e446f4b4e9f55c1944f7, 1900

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Sugar Island 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
1982
Philetus S. Church House
Philetus S. Church House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Philetus S. Church HouseGreek Revival

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Soo TownshipIts storyCSault Ste. Marie16 historic placesA+

Questions about Sugar Island Township’s history

What year was Sugar Island Township founded?

The Sugar Island Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Sugar Island Township?

One place: the Philetus S. Church House (listed 1982).

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 (6), 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.