Galien 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 Berrien 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 1,412. The village of Galien is located within the township. The township is in the south central portion of the county. Three Oaks Township is to the west and northwest, Weesaw Township to the north, Buchanan Township to the northeast, and Bertrand Township to the east.

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

is to the south, with Olive Township in St. Joseph County to the southeast and Hudson Township in LaPorte County to the southwest.

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 ...

, Galien Township has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.35%, is water. US 12 passes through the northern part of the township. A branch of the

Galien River The Galien River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 stream in the Michiana, southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The river begins at the outlet ...

flows northwest through the township to Lake Michigan eventually discharging in to the Atlantic Ocean through the Saint Lawrence River. Galien River was one of the locations where in 1966 the State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources began releasing Coho and Chinook salmon in Michigan rivers. The salmon, later as adults, would return to those locations to spawn. A portion of southeastern Galien Township along with neighboring southwestern Bertrand Township are part of the Kankakee River drainage system which continues to the Mississippi River

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

. This is only one of two locations in Michigan (the other in the Upper Peninsula) that are part of the Mississippi River drainage basin.

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 1,611 people, 619 households, and 448 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 680 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 96.46%

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 ...

, 0.50%

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 ...

, 0.19% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.25% from other races, and 2.17% 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 0.81% of the population. There were 619 households, out of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.7% 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, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 22.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.04. In the township, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.7 males. The median income for a household in the township was $37,434, and the median income for a family was $44,706. Males had a median income of $35,337 versus $19,637 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 $17,850. About 5.8% of families and 7.7% 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 11.3% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Galien Township Public Library
AGRICULTURAL EPICENTER {{authority control Townships in Berrien County, Michigan Townships in Michigan