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BHistory
History · Weare Township

Weare Township’s post office opened in 1869, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 56% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the US 31-Pentwater River Bridge.

1869first post office
1on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
Quick answers

How Weare Township began

When was Weare Township founded?

1869

The Weare Township post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Smiths Corners (1866), Spring Creek (1868) and Weare (1869), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 1,224157 years

How historic is Weare Township?

B

More historic than 56% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Weare Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Weare Township’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Weare Township is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Weare Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 56%
NewerOlder

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 Weare Township’s 7.8 sits above most of its state (81% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 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 Weare Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Weare Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Weare Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Smiths Corners
1866–1902
Spring Creek
1868–1871
Weare
1869–1879
Weare
1897–1902
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Weare
Gone or out of use
Pentwater Oil FieldoilfieldSmiths Corners Post Officepost officeSpring Creek Post Officepost officeWeare Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Weare Township
Mount CalvaryNorth WeareSmith Corners

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Weare Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Weare Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Weare Township is a civil township of Oceana County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,224 at the 2020 census.

Its first post office opened in 1869. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,210 in 2010, 1,224 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Weare Township, 1866 to 1954

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1866Post officeThe Smiths Corners post office opens
  3. 1868Post officeThe Spring Creek post office opens
  4. 1869Post officeThe Weare post office opens
  5. 1871Post officeThe Spring Creek post office closes
  6. 1879Post officeThe Weare post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1902Post officeThe Smiths Corners post office closes
  9. 1954BuiltUS 31-Pentwater River Bridge is built
By decade

Weare Township, decade by decade

On the National Register

1 historic place in Weare Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1999
US 31-Pentwater River Bridge
Structures

Architectural styles listings

Steel Plate Deck Girder Bridge1
All 1 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Weare Township

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

See all →
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Weare Township’s history

What year was Weare Township founded?

The Weare Township post office opened in 1869, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Weare Township rank for history?

Weare Township is more historic than 56% 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.

What is on the National Register in Weare Township?

One place: the US 31-Pentwater River Bridge (listed 1999).

How old are the homes in Weare Township?

14% of Weare Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1982.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.