Sweetwater 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
Lake 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 ...
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 258 at the
2020 census.
Communities
*Branch 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 ...
on
US 10 on the boundary between
Mason County and
Lake County at . The community shares its name with
Branch Township in Mason County, but is also within Sweetwater Township in Lake County. It was founded about 1873 by Benjamin F. Barnett, who built a lumbermen's hotel. 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 ...
later ran the hotel and made it a station. Barnett became the first postmaster of Branch, in Mason County, on February 1, 1876, named for the township, which in turn is named for the north branch of the
Pere Marquette River
The Pere Marquette River is a river in Michigan in the United States. The main stream of this river is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 21, 2011 running fr ...
. On October 1, 1962, the post office was transferred to Lake County.
The Branch
ZIP code 49402 serves most of Sweetwater township, as well as in Lake County, the western parts of
Sauble Township and
Lake Township and a small area of
Webber Township. In Mason County, the ZIP code serves the eastern parts of Branch Township and
Sheridan Township, most of
Logan Township, and small areas of
Meade Township,
Eden Township, and
Custer Township and a small area of
Colfax Township in
Oceana County.
*
Baldwin
Baldwin may refer to:
People
* Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname
Places Canada
* Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario
* Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District
* Baldwin's Mills, ...
is to the southeast, and the Baldwin ZIP code 49304 also serves a small area in southeast Sweetwater Township.
49304 5-Digit ZCTA, 493 3-Digit ZCTA - Reference Map - American FactFinder
U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the township has a total area of , of which is land and (0.20%) is water.
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 ...
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was 6.7 per square mile (2.6/km). There were 352 housing units at an average density of 9.9 per square mile (3.8/km). The racial makeup of the township was 94.54% 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 ...
, 2.52% 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 ...
, 0.42% Native American, and 2.52% 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 1.26% of the population.
There were 116 households, out of which 13.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.6% 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, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.51.
In the township the population was spread out, with 16.0% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 18.5% from 25 to 44, 34.0% from 45 to 64, and 24.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52 years. For every 100 females, there were 112.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 115.1 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $24,107, and the median income for a family was $26,667. Males had a median income of $31,042 versus $21,250 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 $12,037. About 11.5% of families and 18.5% 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 38.0% of those under the age of eighteen and 6.1% of those 65 or over.
References
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Townships in Lake County, Michigan
Townships in Michigan