Harrison Charter Township is a

charter township A charter township is a form of Local government in the United States, local government in the U.S. state of Michigan. While all townships in Michigan are organized governments, a charter township has been granted a charter, which allows it cert ...

of Macomb 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 24,314 at the 2020 census. Harrison Township was formed in 1827 in the

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit ...

along the shores of Lake St. Clair. The township became a

in 1978.

Geography

The township is in southeastern Macomb County, along the northwestern shores of Lake St. Clair. The Clinton River has its mouth in the lake within Harrison Township, and Lake St. Clair Metropark is within the township, along the lakeshore. The township is partially bordered to the west by the city of Mount Clemens, the Macomb

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 ...

. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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 U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the township has a total area of , of which are land and , or 40.03%, are water.

Selfridge Air National Guard Base Selfridge Air National Guard Base or Selfridge ANGB is an Air National Guard installation located in Harrison Township, Michigan, near Mount Clemens. Selfridge Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the Un ...

, which was first built in 1917, is an

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia (United States), militia of each U.S. ...

installation that occupies a large portion of the northern section of the township.

Communities

*Belvidere, originally called Huron Point, was a historic settlement formed within the township in 1835 by David and James Conger from

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, who bought land near the mouth of the Clinton River. It was

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 ...

ted the next year and given a post office in 1837. Many lots of land were sold to future settlers, but the area had to be abandoned soon after, when it was flooded in 1838. *Harrison Township was part of the original Michigan Territory, formed in 1827. It became a charter township government on November 13, 1978. * Lakeside 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 in the southern portion of the township at . The community was settled around 1900 by

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

capitalists who anticipated creating a coastal city east of Mount Clemens along L'Anse Creuse Bay ( French for "Little Bay"). The community never really developed on its own and merely succeeded due to its proximity to Mount Clemens. *Liverpool is a former community located within the township along L'Anse Creuse Bay. It began in 1856 when Edward Shook platted the village with the hopes of making it similar to

Liverpool, England Liverpool is a port city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population of (in ), Liverpool is the administrative, c ...

. He built a hotel and a dock along the lake, but the project failed. *Saint Clair Haven is an unincorporated community located along the shores of Lake St. Clair at .

Major highways

* runs south–north along the western edge of the township. * enters briefly in the northwest corner of the township before having its eastern terminus at I-94.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 24,461 people, 10,720 households, and 6,421 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 11,486 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 94.53%

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 ...

, 2.47%

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 ...

, 0.38% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 0.04%

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 ...

, 0.45% from other races, and 1.55% 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 residents of any race were 1.48% of the population. There were 10,720 households, out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.5% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.1% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.94. In the township, 21.9% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.7% was from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.7 males. The median income for a household in the township was $51,892, and the median income for a family was $67,129. Males had a median income of $47,444 versus $31,561 for females. The per capita income for the township was $29,491. About 3.6% of families and 5.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The entire township is served by L'Anse Creuse Public Schools, which is headquartered in Clinton Township to the west.

Notable people

Dino Ciccarelli Dino Ciccarelli ( , born February 8, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1980 to 1999, primarily with the Minnesota North Stars, but also notably with the Detroit Red ...

, retired professional ice hockey player *

Uncle Kracker Matthew Shafer (born June 6, 1974), also known by his stage name Uncle Kracker, is an American singer and musician. He was previously a turntablist for Kid Rock's backing group Twisted Brown Trucker; since 1999, he has recorded as a solo artis ...

, singer and musician * David Legwand, retired professional ice hockey player * Candice Miller, county and state politician *

Angela Ruggiero Angela Marie Ruggiero (born January 3, 1980) is an American former ice hockey Defenceman (ice hockey), defenseman, gold medalist, and four-time Olympian. She was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 2010 to 2018 and served as a ...

, retired professional ice hockey player and Olympian

References

Sources

External links

*
The Lost Villages of HarrisonHarrison Township Factsheet
{{authority control Townships in Macomb County, Michigan Charter townships in Michigan Former census-designated places in Michigan Michigan populated places on Lake St. Clair Populated places established in 1827 1827 establishments in Michigan Territory