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History · Whitefish Township

1 of Whitefish Township’s places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Whitefish Point Lighthouse. Most of Whitefish Township was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: maps from 1951 on.

1on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940

What stands out about Whitefish Township’s past

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

★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Whitefish Point
1877–1974
Emerson
1884–1914
Shelldrake
1895–1908
Vermilion
1896–1922
Vermillion
1896–1896
Shelldrake
1911–1925
Paradise
1947–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
EmersonParadiseShelldrakeSnug HarborTimberlostVermilionWhitefish PointWhitehouse Landing
Gone or out of use
Emerson Post Officepost officeShelldrake Historical MarkerparkShelldrake Post Officepost officeVermilion Post Officepost officeWhitefish Point Post Officepost office
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Whitefish Township
BaptistOur Lady of VictoryParadiseWhispering Pines

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

Help out

Start Whitefish Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The story so far

Whitefish Township, in brief

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

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 575 to 474 (-18%).

Timeline

Whitefish Township, 1877 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Whitefish Point post office opens
  3. 1884Post officeThe Emerson post office opens
  4. 1895Post officeThe Shelldrake post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1908Post officeThe Shelldrake post office closes
  7. 1914Post officeThe Emerson post office closes
  8. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1974Post officeThe Whitefish Point post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Whitefish Township on the map, 1951 to 1975

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Whitefish Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Whitefish Township on the 1951 USGS mapWhitefish Township on the 1975 USGS map1951Emerson 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 Whitefish Township.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Whitefish Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Whitefish Point Lighthouse
Structures

Architectural styles listings

Cylindrical Iron Town1

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Questions about Whitefish Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Whitefish Township?

One place: the Whitefish Point Lighthouse (listed 1973).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.