Crockery Township is a
civil township
A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a County (United States), county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England town, Ne ...
of
Ottawa County in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. As of the
2020 census, the township population was 4,572.
Communities
There are no incorporated municipalities within the township.
*
Nunica is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
located near the center of the township, close to the junction of
Interstate 96
Interstate 96 (I-96) is an east–west Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway that runs for approximately entirely within the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. The western terminus is at an i ...
and
M-104 at .
* Ottawa Center was a historical settlement along the Grand River in the southeast corner of Crockery Township at . Benjamin Smith became the first postmaster on July 11, 1853. A
plat
In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...
was recorded and entered in 1855. The name reflects its central location (east-west) and was considered as candidate for the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
by county supervisors in 1856.
* Spoonville was a historical settlement where Crockery Creek flows into the Grand River. It was given a station on
Chicago and Michigan Lake Shore Railroad in 1870.
A swing bridge over the Grand River operated from 1871 until 1881 when it was abandoned in favor of another line.
* The city of
Coopersville is to the east, and the Coopersville ZIP code 49404 serves areas in the eastern part of Crockery Township.
* The village of
Fruitport is to the north in
Muskegon County, and the Fruitport ZIP code 49415 serves areas in the northwest part of Crockery Township.
* The village of
Spring Lake is to the west, and the Spring Lake ZIP code 49456 serves areas in the southwest part of Crockery Township.
49456 5-Digit ZCTA, 494 3-Digit ZCTA - Reference Map - American FactFinder
U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census
Geography
Spring Lake Township lies to the west, Muskegon County is to the north, and Polkton Township to the east. The Grand River forms the southern boundary, with Allendale Charter Township to the southeast, Robinson Township to the south, and Grand Haven Charter Township to the southwest. The Grand Haven urban area is about west of the center of the township and Coopersville is about to the east.
The township is drained entirely by tributaries of the Grand River, including the Crockery Creek in the eastern portion.
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the township has a total area of , of which is land and (1.98%) is water.
Demographics
As of the census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.63% African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.56% Native American, 0.11% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.74% from other races, and 1.35% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 1.72% of the population.
There were 1,393 households, out of which 36.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.7% were married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the township the population was spread out, with 27.6% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.2 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $42,399, and the median income for a family was $50,219. Males had a median income of $39,031 versus $27,552 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the township was $19,089. About 5.6% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.
History
The Western Michigan region has been inhabited by the Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
Native Americans for centuries. It is from this tribe that the county takes its name.
The first European explorers in the Ottawa County region were the French-Canadian explorers Louis Joliet
Louis Jolliet (; September 21, 1645after May 1700) was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. In 1673, Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore ...
and Father Jacques Marquette
Jacques Marquette, Society of Jesus, S.J. (; June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Society of Jesus, Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. M ...
, who passed through the region in the mid 17th century.
European settlement in the area proceeded slowly until the mid 19th century, when zinc
Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
was discovered in Crockery Creek in 1858. (Barnes, 1997) In 1872, the town of Nunica was officially incorporated, the name taken from the Ottawa word for zinc. The 1880 census showed approximately 1,000 settlers in the region. (Barnes, 1997)
Notes and references
* Barnes, Elizabeth. (1997). ''Boom and Bust: A Brief Oral History of Nunica'', Grand Rapids: Kent Publishing House.
* U.S. census data for Crockery township, 1880–1970.
External links
Crockery Township official website
{{authority control
Townships in Ottawa County, Michigan
Townships in Michigan