Founding year: the first Vicksburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Vicksburg’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Vicksburg is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #131 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Vicksburg’s overall grade.
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 Vicksburg’s 597 sits above most of its state (99% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 235 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Vicksburg’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the map
Vicksburg on the map, 1922 to 1973
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Vicksburg. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1922Schoolcraft 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 Vicksburg.
John Vickers, the town's namesake, settled in the area in 1831. It was incorporated as a village of the state in 1871. A Michigan Registered Historic Site plaque reads:
VICKERS' MILL: In 1831, John Vickers built a brush dam over the eight-foot waterfall on Portage Creek and erected a log grist mill. The mill is believed to have been the first mill in Kalamazoo County. The dam created a pond that supplied water power to the mill and formed the sizeable Sunset Lake, around which pioneers built homes and set up businesses. Vickers died in 1842. On October 18, 1871, the village was incorporated as Brady, but one day later, a petition passed to rename it Vicksburg.
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.
The Vicksburg post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Vicksburg rank for history?
Vicksburg is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #131 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.
How old are the homes in Vicksburg?
22% of Vicksburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.6 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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