Belvidere 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 (United States), county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England town, Ne ...

of Montcalm County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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, ...

. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 2,135.

Geography

The township is along the northern edge of Montcalm County, bordered to the north by

Mecosta County Mecosta County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population was 39,714. The county seat is Big Rapids, Michigan, Big Rapids. The county is named ...

and at the town's northeast corner by Isabella County. The center of the township at Six Lakes is north of Stanton, the

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 ...

, and north-northeast of Greenville. 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 3.82%, are water. Several natural lakes are in the township, include five of the chain of Six Lakes, which run west to east across the north part of the township. The Flat River flows out of First Lake within the community of Six Lakes in the center of the township; the river is a south-flowing tributary of the Grand River.

Communities

* Six Lakes 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 ...

near the center of the township at on highway M-46 where M-66 branches to the north. A settlement named "Sumnerville" laid out by L. C. Sumner in 1873 and located approximately east of Six Lakes was the first village

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 in the township. The settlement saw some growth, but when the Chicago, Saginaw and Canada Railroad (which became part of the

Pere Marquette Railway The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes (North America), Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and the Canadi ...

and then the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis Potter Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Rich ...

) was built and a station was established nearer to the Flat River, Sumner subsequently sold his holdings and moved to Edmore. Hiram Clark and Dr. J. B. Daniels purchased of land around the rail station, then

ted "Six Lakes" on May 13, 1876. A post office was established on December 20, 1878. The Six Lakes post office with ZIP code 48886 serves most of Belvidere Township as well as smaller portions of Cato Township to the west, Douglass Township to the south and Millbrook Township to the north in

.ZCTA Reference Map for 48886
, U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 2,438 people, 952 households, and 699 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,324 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 95.94%

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 ...

, 0.37%

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 ...

, 1.97% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 1.35% 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 of any race were 1.35% of the population. There were 952 households, out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.5% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 2.93. In the township the population was spread out, with 25.8% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.5 males. The median income for a household in the township was $33,477, and the median income for a family was $37,717. Males had a median income of $33,750 versus $20,893 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the township was $15,920. About 7.4% of families and 10.6% 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 ...

, including 14.1% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

* {{authority control Townships in Montcalm County, Michigan 1867 establishments in Michigan Townships in Michigan Populated places established in 1867