St. Johns’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 2 old photos of St. Johns. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗St. Johns was conceived as a station for the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway in late 1853. The location lie in a forest in Bingham Township, and the site was cleared and settled by the middle of 1854. The settlement was formally incorporated as a village within the township on October 15, 1857. The village incorporated as a city in 1904.
The settlement was named after Michigan Auditor-General John Swegles, who was part of the party sent to scout a site for the station.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart St. Johns’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Johns’s history is told.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewUnion School St Johns, c. 1906: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from St. Johns
See all 20 →
St. Johns, decade by decade
1990s
CommonsUntitled photo2018
CommonsPaine-Gillam-Scott House Historical Marker2018
CommonsVisiting Rehman’s Clothing in St. Johns on small business t…2016
CommonsAbortion crosses traveling exhibition to represent the esti…2015
CommonsRoswell Dexter House St Johns2014
CommonsPerrin-Palmer House St Johns2014
CommonsPaine-Gillam-Scott House St Johns2014
CommonsClinton County MI Courthouse2014
CommonsSugarbowl2013-stjohns-mi-usa48879zipcode20131 historic place in St. Johns
1 place in St. Johns is on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
Architectural styles
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Union School St Johns (c. 1906) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (11) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.