Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns · #463 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Westland was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 1,415 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1930.
Westland first appears in the census in 1930. Two smaller post offices, Perrinsville (1861) and West End (1878), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Westland is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #463 of 701 in Michigan. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Westland’s 169 sits above most of its state (96% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1,415 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first census (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 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Westland’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Westland. 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 Westland.
From Wikipedia’s history of Westland.
During the 18th century, the area was inhabited by the people of a Potawatomi Native American village. Other tribes, particularly three Algonquian tribes, used the area as hunting territory. Though white settlers did not begin to settle the area until about 1824, they began passing through at the beginning of the 19th century.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereGregory Jbara is born here
Born hereChris Conner is born here
202120211023 05 Adrian & Blissfield Rail Road, Blissfield…
2014Van Born Road
2013Zebra Headband
2013Swarovski Pearl
2013Meeting with Terese Smith, Champion of Change, from
2013Meeting with Terese Smith, Champion of Change, from W…
2011Snap-on dealer van
2011Purple Heart Memorial
2011Perrinsville Village historic site
2011Famous Dave's catering truck
2011Aramark uniforms delivery truck
2007MIMap-doton-WestlandBetween 9,806 and 86,749 people in every census since 1930.
10 censuses, 1930–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Westland’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Westland post office opened in 1930, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1966.
Westland is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns, #463 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.
Two places: the Annapolis Park Historic District (listed 2006) and the Norwayne Historic District (2013).
3% of Westland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) 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.
