Holmes Township was 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 ref ...

Mackinac County Mackinac County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 Census, the population was 10,834. The county seat is St. Ignace, Michigan, St. Ignace. Forme ...

in the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Organized on April 12, 1827, Holmes included parts of Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas within the original county of Michilimackinac. The county and township both became smaller over time, until 1895 when Holmes consisted of only

Mackinac Island Mackinac Island ( ; french: Île Mackinac; oj, Mishimikinaak ᒥᔑᒥᑭᓈᒃ; otw, Michilimackinac) is an island and resort area, covering in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac an ...

and Round Island. Holmes was incorporated into the City of Mackinac Island effective March 20, 1900.

1827 bounds

Holmes Township was created with the following legal description:

Commencing at the intersection of the Cheboigun river, with the parallel of north latitude 44 degrees 30 minutes, and running west along said parallel, until it strikes Lake Michigan, thence due north until it intersects the parallel of north latitude 46 degrees, thence east along said parallel until it would intersect a line due north from the place of beginning.

Interpreting this description today is problematic because there is no apparent intersection between the headwaters of the Cheboygan River and the line of 44.5 degrees north latitude. This leaves the eastern bound indeterminate.

1842 name change

Holmes Township was renamed to Mackinac Township on February 16, 1842. The name change was reversed back to Holmes Township on March 9, 1843. This was enacted the same day as the division of the Upper Peninsula. The county of Michilimackinac was notably confined to the Upper Peninsula at that time.

1873 map

By 1873, Holmes Township was reduced to the portion of Mackinac County east of St. Ignace.

1894 bounds

By 1894, Holmes Township was about the size of a

survey township A survey township, sometimes called a Congressional township or just township, as used by the United States Public Land Survey System, is a nominally-square area of land that is nominally six U.S. survey miles (about 9.66 km) on a side. E ...

in the Upper Peninsula, with Bois Blanc Island, Mackinac Island, Round Island, and St. Martins Island.

References

Defunct townships in Michigan Populated places in Mackinac County, Michigan 1827 establishments in Michigan Territory 1900 disestablishments in the United States Populated places established in 1827 Populated places disestablished in 1900 {{MackinacCountyMI-geo-stub