Centerville 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 Leelanau 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, ...

. The population was 1,243 at the 2020 census. The township is bounded to the east by

Lake Leelanau Lake Leelanau ( ) is a lake that is located in the Leelanau Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The lake is divided into two basins, usually referred to as ''North Lake Leelanau'' and ''South Lake Leelanau'', which are divided by the Lak ...

History

Centerville Township was organized in 1862 as one of Leelanau County's first five townships.

Communities

* Bodus is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

at . * Good Harbor is a ghost town in the northwest of the township. * Isadore 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 ...

in the southern part of the township at . It was established when Polish immigrants arrived from

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, in about 1870, and settled into farming in the area. The first

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, called "Holy Rosary", was built in 1883 and a parochial school the following year. Originally called "Four Corners", the name was changed to honor Saint Isadore, the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

s. A post office was established on July 27, 1892, and operated until May 15, 1912. A new Catholic school was built in 1905, and the current Holy Rosary Catholic Church, a brick structure, was built in 1922. Later, a high school was added, graduating its first class in 1942. The high school operated until 1961. The intersection today consists of the church, school (closed after 101 years of operation at the close of the 1998–1999 school year), a rectory built in 1966, a cemetery, and a couple of houses, surrounded by farmland on rolling hills. Isadore is also known as the location at which the story "Isadore's Secret" took place. This story centers around the murder of Sister Janina, a nun who served at Holy Rosary church, who was rumored impregnated by Father Edward Podlaszewski. * Schomberg is a ghost town at .

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 (8.87%) is water. Centerville Township contains shorelines on both

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

and

Major highway

* is a north–south state trunkline highway that clips the northwest corner of the township. The highway parallels

, and can be used to access Leland (to the north) and Glen Arbor (to the south).

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 1,095 people, 435 households, and 325 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 681 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 97.72%

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 ...

, 0.46%

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 ...

, 0.64% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.27%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.55% from other races, and 0.18% 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 2.92% of the population. There were 435 households, out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% 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, 4.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.1% were non-families. 20.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.86. In the township the population was spread out, with 25.3% under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 109.2 males. The median income for a household in the township was $43,214, and the median income for a family was $46,875. Males had a median income of $31,250 versus $23,958 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 $18,707. About 3.2% of families and 7.0% 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 8.1% of those under age 18 and 1.0% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Centerville Township Website
{{Authority control Townships in Leelanau County, Michigan Townships in Michigan Traverse City metropolitan area