Van Buren Township is one of the twenty
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 ...
of
Darke County
Darke County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,881. Its county seat is Greenville. The county was created in 1809 and later organized in 1817. It is named for William Darke, an officer in the ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, United States. The
2020 census found 1,528 people in the township.
Geography
Located in the southern part of the county, it borders the following townships:
*
Adams Township - north
*
Franklin Township - east
*
Monroe Township - southeast corner
*
Twin Township - south
*
Butler Township - southwest corner
*
Neave Township - west
*
Greenville Township - northwest
No municipalities are located in Van Buren Township.
Name and history
Statewide, other Van Buren Townships are located in
Hancock Hancock may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Hancock, Iowa
* Hancock, Maine
* Hancock, Maryland
* Hancock, Massachusetts
* Hancock, Michigan
* Hancock, Minnesota
* Hancock, Missouri
* Hancock, New Hampshire
** Hancock (CDP), New Hampshir ...
,
Putnam, and
Shelby counties.
Van Buren Township was created in June 1838 and reduced by the formation of
Franklin Township in June of the following year. It is probable that the township's first settlers arrived in 1818.
Over thirty years passed between the first settlement and the foundation of the first churches; the
United Brethren and
Methodist Episcopal
The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...
churches were established in 1850.
Van Buren Township was named for
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
, eighth President of the United States and President at the time of the township's creation.
Government
The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer, who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.
References
External links
County website
{{authority control
Townships in Darke County, Ohio
Townships in Ohio