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History · Livonia

Livonia’s post office opened in 1864, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1974 on and the census since 1920.

1864first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Livonia began

When was Livonia founded?

1864

The Livonia post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 248 in 19202020 census: 52162 years
Founding year: the first Livonia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Livonia’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Livonia are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Livonia’s homes were built before 1949.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Livonia’s collection

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

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

How Livonia came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Livonia.

Read it all →

The plat for Livonia was laid out in May 1859 by Absalom Grogan and consisted of four blocks containing eight lots each. Grogan was also the town's first postmaster. Following his death, the post office was moved to the farm of Joseph Martin approximately three miles to the north of the original plat. The town, for all practical purposes, followed this move to higher ground and by 1888 had the post office, Martin's general store, the blacksmith shop of Dan Kelly, and a population of around 15.

On July 26, 2011, the United States Postal Service announced plans to permanently close the Livonia post office as part of a nationwide restructuring plan.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Livonia, 1864 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1864Post officeThe Livonia post office opens
  3. 1899Born hereClare Magee is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1974On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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On the map

Livonia on the map, 1974 to 1981

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

Livonia on the 1974 USGS mapLivonia on the 1981 USGS map1974Queen City NW 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 Livonia.

People over time

Livonia, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 248

Between 52 and 248 people in every census since 1920.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

Questions about Livonia’s history

What year was Livonia founded?

The Livonia post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 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.