Geneva 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, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England, New York, and Wisconsin to re ...

of Van Buren County in the

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Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. The population was 3,975 at the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...

Communities

* Lacota is an unincorporated community in the north of the township on 60th St. at . The community is near the northern boundary of the township and some residents in the adjacent Lee and

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townships in Allegan County identify with Lacota. The Lacota post office, with ZIP code 49063, provides PO Box service. Clark Pierce became the first European settler in 1837. When the community was

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ted in 1870 by Enoch M. Pease, it was named Irvington after Pierce's son Irving. A post office named "West Geneva" opened on May 20, 1864, with Jerome B. Watson as the first postmaster. The post office name was changed to Irvington on June 2, 1874, and again to Lacota on December 22, 1884. The latter change was requested by the Michigan Central Railroad, which already served a town named Irving (in Irving Township, Barry County MI). The name Lacota was suggested by V. D. Dilley for the main character in a novel that his father was reading.

Geography

According to the

US Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and (0.06%) is water.

Demographics

As of the

, there were 3,975 people, 1,403 households, and 1,028 families in the township. The population density was . There were 1,567 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 82.54%

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, 9.18%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1.38% Native American, 0.18%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 4.33% from

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, and 2.39% from two or more races.

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Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 7.92% of the population. There were 1,403 households, out of which 37.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.1% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.20. The township population contained 29.6% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males. The median income for a household in the township was $34,900, and the median income for a family was $38,125. Males had a median income of $35,712 versus $21,599 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the township was $16,499. About 7.9% of families and 10.4% 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 t ...

, including 6.2% of those under age 18 and 17.9% of those age 65 or over.

References

* {{authority control Townships in Van Buren County, Michigan Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan area Townships in Michigan