Fairplain 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, ...

. The population was 1,802 at the 2020 census.

Communities

*Fenwick is an unincorporated community in the southeast part of the township at . The Fenwick post office, with ZIP code 48834, serves the southeastern portion of Fairplain Township as well as portions of surrounding townships.ZCTA Reference Map for 48834
U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census Fenwick was founded in 1872 by B. C. Loree, who named it after his home town,

Fenwick, Ontario Fenwick is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the town of Pelham. It is located in the Niagara Region. Welland is the closest city center. Fenwick has a population of 1,500. History The community was named in 1853. The name pr ...

. A post office opened on April 28, 1873, with James R. Hall as its first postmaster. It was

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 and recorded on May 22, 1874, by S. C. Alderman for the proprietors Simon M., Sarah, and David Griswold.

Geography

Fairplain Township is in southern Montcalm County and is bordered to the south by Ionia County. State highway M-57 crosses the central part of the township, leading west to Greenville and east to

Carson City Carson City, officially the Carson City Consolidated Municipality, is an independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the 6th most populous city in the state. The m ...

. 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 2.05%, are water. The township is drained by Dickerson Creek, a tributary of the Flat River, except for small areas on the eastern border which drain to Prairie Creek. The Flat River and Prairie Creek are each south-flowing tributaries of the Grand River, flowing to

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 ...

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 1,826 people, 615 households, and 492 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 664 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 95.78%

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 ...

, 1.26%

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 ...

, 0.33% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.55% from other races, and 1.75% 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 2.52% of the population. There were 615 households, out of which 41.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.3% 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, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.0% were non-families. 15.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.90 and the average family size was 3.17. In the township the population was spread out, with 29.2% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 23.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 106.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.7 males. The median income for a household in the township was $42,955, and the median income for a family was $46,830. Males had a median income of $32,632 versus $21,442 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 $15,833. About 3.8% of families and 8.3% 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 4.4% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

* {{authority control Townships in Montcalm County, Michigan Townships in Michigan