Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 15 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1963 on.
Tuscola Township dates its founding to 1840 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1852.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tuscola Township is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Tuscola Township’s 75.5 sits above most of its state (92% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 15 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Tuscola Township’s history is told.
Two 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltHart, Jr., Lovira and Esther Maria Parker, Farm is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Tuscola Township.
The township was established in 1840 as a township of Saginaw County and encompassed all of Tuscola County, which had been created by an Act of the Michigan Legislature on April 1, 1840, from land in Sanilac County and attached for administrative purposes to Saginaw County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tuscola 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 Tuscola Township.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Tuscola Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Tuscola Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1840, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Tuscola Township’s post office opened in 1852.
Tuscola Township is more historic than 91% 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.
One place: the Hart, Jr., Lovira and Esther Maria Parker, Farm (listed 2004).
22% of Tuscola Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
Date?
