Erie 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 Monroe County in the U.S. state 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 4,299 at the 2020 census. Sharing a southern border with the city of

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, about southwest of the city of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, the township is one of the southernmost areas included in the Detroit–Warren–Ann Arbor Combined Statistical Area (

Metro Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...

). The township was organized in 1827 and is the southeasternmost municipality in the state of Michigan. The city of Luna Pier is mostly surrounded by the township, but the two are administered autonomously since Luna Pier incorporated as a city in 1963.

History

Erie was started in 1790 by

Métis people The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They hav ...

moving south from Monroe. Early on, a log church named St. Joseph sur la Baie Miami was built here. Father

Gabriel Richard Gabriel Richard ( ; October 15, 1767 – September 13, 1832) was a French Roman Catholic priest who ministered to the French Catholics in the parish of Sainte Anne de Détroit, as well as Protestants and Native Americans living in Southeast Mi ...

often conducted mass here. The township was officially organized as one of the first five townships in Monroe County,

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit ...

, in 1827. The township was originally much larger and included the present-day townships of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, La Salle, and about a stretch of the Toledo Strip. When a post office was established in 1827, it was given the name of "Bay Settlement". The township's name was changed to Erie in 1835. Bedford Township and La Salle Township were broken off from Erie Township and established in 1836. In the same year, the Toledo Strip portion of Erie Township was given to the state of Ohio. Luna Pier, which occupied the northeast portion of the township, incorporated as a city in 1963, separating it from the township. The last boundary change within Erie Township came in 1973 when the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

intervened on a border dispute involving the small and uninhabited Turtle Island, offshore in

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

. The island was divided in half, with one side given to Erie Township. The other side of the island, which contains the abandoned Turtle Island Light, was given to Ohio.

Communities

*Alexis is a former settlement beginning in 1878 that was at a junction of two railway lines heading south from

. The site was also known as Detroit Junction. * Erie 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 ...

located in the northwest portion of the township at . As one of the county's oldest communities, Erie was first settled as early as 1790 by settlers from the north in Frenchtown. It was given a post office named "Bay Settlement" on April 18, 1827. The name was changed to "Erie" after the township on March 5, 1835, and remains in operation. *Havre is a former settlement located about north of the state border on the north shores of

Maumee Bay Maumee Bay on Lake Erie is located in the U.S. state of Ohio, just east of the city of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo. The bay and the surrounding wetlands form most of the Maumee River basin, and in 1975 part of the area was incorporated into Maumee Bay Sta ...

. A post office operated very briefly here for about five months from June 19 until December 15, 1837. *Vienna is a historic locale located at . Founded in 1882, it served as a branch on the

Michigan Central Railroad The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in th ...

in 1882. *Vistula was a settlement located within the former boundaries of the township. A land company bought and platted the community in 1832, and the territory built a roadway here. A post office in Vistula was established on January 8, 1834, and operated very briefly until it was closed on January 9, 1835, during the onset of the Toledo War. When the border dispute was resolved by 1836, the area of Vistula was transferred to the state of Ohio. The only remnants of the former settlement are included in the Vistula Historic District in Toledo.

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 are land and , or 19.32%, are water. Erie Township includes Gard Island, Indian Island, and a portion of Turtle Island in

. The

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...

runs through the southeasternmost portion of the township and empties into North Maumee Bay within the township. The township also includes the North Maumee Bay Archeological District and portions of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. The Lost Peninsula is located in the southeasternmost portion of the township. It is located on Point Place Peninsula, which is bordered by the Ottawa River on the west and

on the east. Lost Peninsula is an

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

of the township (and of the state of Michigan), as its only land border is with the state of

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. The Toledo neighborhood of Point Place borders Lost Peninsula to the south. The township is bordered by Lake Erie to the east, Bedford Township to the west, La Salle Township to the north, and the city of Luna Pier to the northeast. The state of

borders to the south, including portions of the city of Toledo and Washington Township.

Major highways

* runs south–north through the eastern section of township and has one access point along Otter Creek Road (exit 9). * runs south–north through the center of the township. * runs parallel with US 24. * US_25_Michigan_1948

US 25 is a former U.S. highway from 1926–1973 that is now replaced with M-125.

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 4,850 people, 1,789 households, and 1,343 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,917 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 95.32%

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 ...

, 1.01%

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 ...

, 0.60% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 1.42% from other races, and 1.44% 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 people of any race were 4.29% of the population. There were 1,789 households, out of which 34.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.3% 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, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.9% were non-families. 20.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.13. In the township the population was spread out, with 27.1% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.6 males. The median income for a household in the township was $52,442, and the median income for a family was $59,089. Males had a median income of $46,810 versus $27,900 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 $21,494. About 4.5% of families and 5.1% 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 6.0% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The majority of Erie Township is served by Mason Consolidated Schools, while very small portions of the western border are served by Bedford Public Schools to the west in Bedford Township.

Notable people

* Elroy M. Avery, historian, author, and politician; born in Erie TownshipOhio History - The Scholarly Journal of the Ohio Historical Society
Volume 4, page 453 (Sketches of Life Members), 1895

References

Sources

External links

* {{Monroe County, Michigan Townships in Michigan Townships in Monroe County, Michigan Populated places established in 1827 1827 establishments in Michigan Territory Michigan populated places on Lake Erie