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History · Turner

Turner’s post office opened in 1885, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1968 on and the census since 1920.

1885first post office
0on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Turner began

When was Turner founded?

1885

The Turner post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 236 in 19202020 census: 121141 years
Founding year: the first Turner post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Turner’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 Turner are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Turner’s homes were built before 1959.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Turner’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Turner’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 Turner came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Turner.

Read it all →

Turner, originally Turnerville, was named after Joe Turner, one of the first non-native settlers to the area in the 1870s; the land was previously home to the Ojibwa tribe. Taking opportunity of the dense, mature forests covering the region, Joe Turner established a successful lumber company and the settlement quickly expanded to include a blacksmith, church, depot, general store, hotel, mill, post office, restaurant, roundhouse, saloon, schoolhouse, shoe store, and train repair facilities. In the 1880s, the Detroit & Mackinac Railway lay tracks through the settlement, allowing it to connect directly to nearby National City, Twining, Omer, and Standish; these tracks are still operational and are now owned by Lake State Railway. The settlement became a recognized village in 1915. As the vast tracts of forest were cleared, industry transitioned away from logging and into farming during th…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.
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On the map

Turner on the map, 1968 to 1984

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

Turner on the 1968 USGS mapTurner on the 1984 USGS map1968Whittemore 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 Turner.

People over time

Turner, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 236

Between 114 and 236 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Turner’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Turner

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

See all →
Janae KrocAmerican powerlifter and bodybuilder · b. 1972
Jeff JanisAmerican football player · b. 1991
George PrescottAmerican politician · b. 1913
H
Harry MatuzakAmerican baseball player · b. 1910
L
Leland JacobsAmerican teacher · b. 1907

Questions about Turner’s history

What year was Turner founded?

The Turner post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.