Erie Township is one of fourteen

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in Miami County,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 551 (slightly down from 554 at 2010) and it contained 238 housing units. The township's only community is

Erie Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

History

Erie Township was organized on August 27, 1839. Originally called Black Hawk Township, it was renamed in September 1847 for the

Wabash and Erie Canal The Wabash and Erie Canal was a shipping canal that linked the Great Lakes to the Ohio River via an artificial waterway. The canal provided traders with access from the Great Lakes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Over 460 miles long, it was th ...

. Samuel McClure, a trader who arrived in the fall of 1827, is considered the first European to have entered the area, establishing an Indian trading post on the Abraham Dingman farm. Settlement began in 1835, encouraged by the new canal. The Methodists and United Brethren were the first religious organizations in the township, organizing in 1846 and 1849 respectively. An 1896 history of the county recounts a short description of early life in the area as described by George Nicholson, a pioneer who settled in Erie Township in 1844:

It had been the custom to go to Peru and vote and then spend the day in hilarity. Intoxicats icwere free and spirits high. There was always a half dozen or more fights during the day. Some big fellow who felt like a Sampson and Croesus over the effects of some one's treating strutted down the street swinging his arms as big as Pompey and challenged any Democrat to a wrestle... In those early days it was a very dull Saturday if there was not at least one fight.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, the township has a total area of , of which (or 98.52%) is land and (or 1.42%) is water. Erie Township is the county's smallest civil township by land area. Erie Township consists of level, open farmland to the north, giving way to an east-west belt of wooded hollows and valleys farther south, and finally bottomland along the

Wabash River The Wabash River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana, and a significant part of Illinois, in the United ...

, which forms the township's southern border with Butler Township. Daniel Creek, Schrom Creek and several smaller streams flow south into the river. The township is bordered on the west by Peru Township and on the north by Richland Township. Its eastern border is with Wabash County.

Unincorporated towns

Major highways

U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 24 or U.S. Highway 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States Numbered Highways of 1926 which runs east and west for most of its routing. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Misso ...

runs east and west through Erie Township, connecting

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and Wabash.

School districts

* Peru Community Schools

Political districts

Indiana's 5th congressional district Indiana's 5th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana comprising Hamilton County, Indiana, Hamilton, Madison County, Indiana, Madison, Delaware County, Indiana, Delaware, Grant County, Indiana, Grant, and ...

* State House District 23 * State Senate District 18

References

*
United States Census Bureau 2008 TIGER/Line Shapefiles

IndianaMap

External links

Indiana Township Association

United Township Association of Indiana

{{authority control Townships in Miami County, Indiana Townships in Indiana