More historic than 39% of U.S. towns · #475 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Walled Lake was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1907 on, and the census since 1960.
Founding year: the first Walled Lake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Walled Lake’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walled Lake is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #475 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Walled Lake’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 Walled Lake’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (32% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share (±2.0 points) is firm at this size. 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 Walled Lake’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town's name is said to have been given by the first American settler, Walter Hewitt, in 1825. Upon his arrival, he noticed what appeared to be a stone wall along the western bank of a nearby lake, possibly constructed by earlier Potawatomi Indian tribes.
Walled Lake was a village inhabited by Ojibwa and Potowatamie people until about 1830. It appears that these people had relocated from an earlier village in the area that is today Southfield.
Passages that mention Walled Lake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Oakland County, Michigan1912 · page 178Read the page →
Read the text
and who had not been admitted to practice and were frequently called pettifoggers. I remember one of these men with feelings of gratitude and respect. He was by occupation a harness-maker who lived in the village of Walled Lake. He had a serious lung trouble and was advised by his physicians to relin(|uish his trade and get out into the air and sunlight, if he hoped to live, tie was a i)right. (|uick-witted man. with an excellent vocabulary, a musical voice and a clever way of putting things.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Oakland County, Michigan1912 · page 483Read the page →
Read the text
Novi Corners, or Novi The only postoffice in the township (Novi), was formerly known as Novi Corners; and it was most appropriately named, for the settlement not only stood at the intersection of the old Walled Lake and the Detroit and Mowell roads, liut at the corners of sections 14, 15, 22 and 23. The first inhabitant at the Corners wa John Elmore, who came before 1830 and located on the west half of tht southwest quarter of section 14. Immediately after, Apollos Cudwortl and Benjamin Brown arrived in the
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.
By decade
Walled Lake, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Walled Lake post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Walled Lake rank for history?
Walled Lake is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #475 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 Walled Lake?
4% of Walled Lake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.0 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 (6), 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.
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