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History · West Branch Township

West Branch Township dates to 1885, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1965 on, and the census since 1880.

1885founded
0on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From West Branch Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How West Branch Township began

When was West Branch Township founded?

1885

West Branch Township dates its founding to 1885 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 139 in 18802020 census: 2,567141 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1877.The full story ↓

What stands out about West Branch Township’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s West Branch Township, and 4 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start West Branch Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPlat book of Ogemaw County, Michigan: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

Another post office, Campbells Corners, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Campbells CornersCountry Village Estates Mobile Home ParkTwin Pines Mobile Home ParkWest Branch Travel Trailer Park
Gone or out of use
Campbells Corners Post Officepost officeWest Branch Oil Fieldoilfield
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside West Branch Township
Campbells CornersSaint Josephs

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

The story

How West Branch Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of West Branch Township.

Read it all →

In 1875, a northerly extension of the Michigan Central Railroad was completed through present-day West Branch. The community, which originated as a station on the railroad, was named for its location near the west branch of the Rifle River, which flows southeasterly to Saginaw Bay, a bay of Lake Huron.

Ogemaw County was organized by an act of state legislature in 1873, with both West Branch and nearby Ogemaw Springs vying to become county seat. West Branch officially became the county seat in 1876. West Branch was incorporated as a village in 1885, and as a city in 1905.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

West Branch Township, 1877 to 1965

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Campbells Corners post office opens
  3. 1885
    FoundingWest Branch Township is established
  4. 20th century
  5. 1903In the archivePlat book of Ogemaw County, Michigan
  6. 1911Post officeThe Campbells Corners post office closes
  7. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

West Branch Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Plat book of Ogemaw County, Michigan1903Plat book of Ogemaw County, Michigan
1910s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
Vijay Kumar (author)2014Vijay Kumar (author)Tractor Supply Company (West Branch, Michigan)2014Tractor Supply Company (West Branch, Michigan)Ponderosa too2014Ponderosa tooPonderosasteakhouse2012PonderosasteakhouseMIMap-doton-WestBranch2005MIMap-doton-WestBranch
On the map

West Branch Township on the map in 1965

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of West Branch Township.

West Branch Township on the 1965 USGS map1965West Branch 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 West Branch Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Plat book of Ogemaw County, Michigan
Retake this viewPlat book of Ogemaw County, Michigan, 1903

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on West Branch Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

West Branch Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,500188019001920194019601980200020202,351

Grew from 139 people in 1880 to 2,351 in 2020, more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

West BranchIts storyC+Horton TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOgemaw TownshipIts storyC−Klacking TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townChurchill TownshipIts storyC−

Questions about West Branch Township’s history

What year was West Branch Township founded?

In 1885, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. West Branch Township’s post office opened in 1877, and the census of 1880 counted 139 people here.

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.