Excelsior 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 Kalkaska County in the U.S. state 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, ...

. The population was 991 at the 2020 census. The township was established in 1875. Portions of the township are served by the Excelsior Township School District 1, which is one of the last remaining one-room schoolhouses in the state. The current township hall also served as a high school in the past and is listed as a state historic site.

Communities

Manistee Lake Manistee Lake is a water body adjacent to the city of Manistee, Michigan. Its primary inlet, as well as its outlet, is the Manistee River, flowing to Lake Michigan. The tributary Little Manistee River enters the southeast end of the lake befor ...

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 ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

with a small portion within the township, while most of the community extends to the north into Coldsprings Township.

Geography

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 (2.46%) is water. Excelsior Township contains several lakes, including Crawford Lake, Grass Lake, Lake Five, Perch Lake, Post Lake, and the southernmost portion of Manistee Lake. The north branch of the

Manistee River The Manistee River ( ', seldom referred to as the Big Manistee River) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed November 21, 2011 river in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. s ...

also passes through the township. M-72 runs east–west through the center of the township.

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 ...

of 2000, there were 855 people, 328 households, and 245 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 560 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 98.60%

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 ...

, 0.23%

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 ...

, 0.58% Native American, 0.23% Asian, and 0.35% 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 0.47% of the population. There were 328 households, out of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.8% 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, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.3% were non-families. 20.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 2.93. In the township the population was spread out, with 26.9% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 111.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.3 males. The median income for a household in the township was $36,932, and the median income for a family was $39,844. Males had a median income of $35,288 versus $20,956 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 $16,476. About 6.8% of families and 9.0% 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 16.6% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{authority control Townships in Kalkaska County, Michigan Townships in Michigan Populated places established in 1875 1875 establishments in Michigan Traverse City metropolitan area