Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns · #241 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Swartz Creek was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Its Register listing is the Gilbert, Horace/Morgan and Enos Miller House. Below: maps from 1922 on and the census since 1960.
The Swartz Creek post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1959. Another post office, Otterburn (1887), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Swartz Creek is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #241 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds 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 Swartz Creek’s 1.7 sits above most of its state (68% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). 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 Swartz Creek’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Swartz Creek. 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 Swartz Creek.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltGilbert, Horace/Morgan and Enos Miller House is built
Born hereBert F. Crapser is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Swartz Creek.
Native Americans traveled the trail that paralleled the Swartz Creek to reach the maple trees, on what would later be the
Crapo Farm, to fish, gather fruit, and hunt. This trail terminated in the Lansing area.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Swartz Creek, cut from the printed page as they were published.
It was in territorial days, previous to 1836, that Adam Aliller came out into the wilds of the then Territory of Michigan and entered from the government a section of land where the village of Swartz Creek is now situated. Others of the same family later came out here from Xew York, following the example of their pioneer kinsman, and the Miller settlement early took its place as one of the most progressive communities in this part of the state. Adam Miller's family retained its substantial lead in the community and representatives of that family have l3een leaders in the \arious
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
then spent three years on the old home farm in Mundy township, after which he purchased an eighty-acre farm in Atlas township, where he lived four years. He then disposed of that farm and bought a farm of one hundred and five acres in or near the village of Swartz Creek, and was there engaged in farming for twenty-four years. In 1907 he sold out and moved to the village of Grand Blanc, where he bought his present home, which is a good, modern brick residence, neat and substantial. He also bought the David Dewey farm of one hundred and twenty-nine acres,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
of Seth Hathaway, which occurred about 1838. The first adult who died (Miller settlement neighborhood) was a man named Wheaton. The two cemeteries in town each contain about an acre of land. That at Swartz Creek was originally taken from the Miller property, and the persons who died, as above, were buried in it before tlie ground was laid out for cemetery purposes. It was given to the township by Adam Miller, and in it rest the remains of the fol-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Between 3,006 and 5,897 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Swartz Creek’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Swartz Creek’s post office has been open since 1843. Another post office, Otterburn, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Swartz Creek post office opened in 1843, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1959.
Swartz Creek is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns, #241 of 701 in Michigan. 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.
One place: the Gilbert, Horace/Morgan and Enos Miller House (listed 1982).
8% of Swartz Creek’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
