Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns · #378 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1850.
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Whiteford Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #378 of 701 in Michigan. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Whiteford Township’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.
Founding year: our sources. 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Whiteford Township’s history is told.
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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Whiteford Township. 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 Whiteford Township.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Whiteford Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Whiteford Township is a civil township of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,590 at the 2020 census.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 4,602 in 2010, 4,590 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
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
2021Whiteford Center, Michigan
2021Ottawa Lake, Michigan post office (March 2021)
2021Ottawa Lake, Michigan along Memorial Highway
2021Ottawa Lake, Michigan (March 2021)
2011Whiteford Wesleyan Church, 10285 Sylvania-Petersburg …
2010Whiteford township whiteford schoolhouse
2010Whiteford township st. michael lutheran church
2010Whiteford township fire department
2010Whiteford township farmland
2010Whiteford township High schoolNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Whiteford Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 696 and 4,660 people in every census since 1850.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Whiteford Township’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Whiteford Township is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #378 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.
20% of Whiteford Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (11), 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.
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