Erie Township is one of fourteen

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

in Miami County,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 554 and it contained 242 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. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

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 (French: Ouabache) 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 in the United States. It flows from ...

, 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 (US 24) is one of the original United States highways of 1926. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Missouri, in the west. Today, the highway's eastern terminus is in Independence Township, Mic ...

runs east and west through Erie Township, connecting

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

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 that takes the north side of Indianapolis as well as its eastern and northern suburbs, including Marion, Carmel, Anderson, Noblesville, Fishers, ...

* 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