York Township is one of twelve

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 Steuben 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 733 and it contained 291 housing units. York Township has the distinction of being Indiana's lone township to border both

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 ...

and

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 ...

as well as bordering two states on land as all other tri-points along Indiana's border are underwater.

Geography

According to the 2010 census, the township has a total area of , all land. The streams of Hanselman Branch and West Branch Fish Creek run through this township.

Unincorporated towns

* Berlien at * Courtney Corner at * Eastpoint Terminal (a

tollbooth A tollbooth (or toll booth) is an enclosure placed along a toll road that is used for the purpose of collecting a toll from passing traffic. A structure consisting of several tollbooths placed next to each other is called a toll plaza, tollga ...

on the

Indiana Toll Road The Indiana Toll Road, officially the Indiana East–West Toll Road, is a tolled freeway that runs for east–west across northern Indiana from the Illinois state line to the Ohio state line. It has been advertised as the "Main Street of the ...

) *

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

at *

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

at *

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

at (This list is based on USGS data and may include former settlements.)

Cemeteries

The township contains three cemeteries: Dygert, York, and Powers.

Major highways

(

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

and

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

) *

U.S. Route 20 U.S. Route 20 or U.S. Highway 20 (US 20) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that stretches from the Pacific Northwest east to New England. The "0" in its route number indicates that US 20 is a major coast-to-coast route. S ...

History

In the decades before it was settled by white immigrants, York Township and the surrounding area were the domain of the Potawatomi Indians. The first recorded white settler in York Township was Fayette Barron, who built a homestead at what would become Metz in 1836. The following year saw the arrival of the Powers families, who settled in the northwest sections of the township. Two Powers brothers had scouted the area the year before, and now brought six families on a long journey from New York state.Folck, p. 46. In 1879, the Powers families and neighbors built what is now known as the

Powers Church The Powers Church is a historic church in York Township, Steuben County, Indiana, described as a "fine example of early northern Indiana Colonial Revival architecture". In 1983, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, where i ...

. The land for a nondenominational church (hence its other name "Free Church") had been donated in 1839 by Clark Powers, head of one of the original Powers families. The last regular services were held at the church in the 1920s. The church was restored in 1976 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1983. The unincorporated village of Metz enjoyed its heyday during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At one point or another it boasted a sawmill, a hotel, physicians, an undertaker, and several of the more typical retail shops.Anspaugh. In 1919, the York township schools were consolidated with those of Richland Township into the Metz school. This school, with students from kindergarten through high school, operated for 40 years, until it was closed in 1959, a victim of declining enrollment.

Education

York Township residents may obtain a free library card from the Carnegie Public Library of Steuben County.

References

*Anspaugh, Colleen (1997) "Old towns", ''Steuben Herald-Republican'', Angola, Indiana, p. A3. * Folck, Dorsey (1956) "York Township", Harvey Morley, editor, ''The 1955 History, Complete County Atlas, pictorial and Biographical Album of Steuben County, Indiana'', Angola, Indiana, pp. 46–47.
Steuben County Cemeteries
, Steuben County, Indiana, INGenWeb Site, accessed August 12, 2008. *Taylor, Robert M.; Stevens, Errol Wayne; Ponder, Mary Ann (1990) ''Indiana: A New Historical Guide'', Indiana Historical Society, .
U.S. Board on Geographic Names (GNIS)

United States Census Bureau cartographic boundary files

External links

Indiana Township Association

United Township Association of Indiana
{{authority control Townships in Steuben County, Indiana Townships in Indiana