Harris 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 Menominee 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 2,113 at the 2020 census.

Geography

Harris Township occupies the northeast part of Menominee County, extending from north to south. It is bordered to the east by Delta County and to the north by Marquette County. The city of

Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city and the county seat of Delta County, Michigan, Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula. The popu ...

is to the east via US Routes 2 and 41, while the village of Powers is to the west.

Menominee The Menominee ( ; meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recognized tribe of Na ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, is to the south by road. 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 ...

, Harris Township has a total area of , of which are land and , or 0.10%, are water. The Cedar River and its tributaries drain the southern third of the township, except for along the eastern border, where the Bark River has its source. The Ford River drains the northern part of the township, while its tributary Tenmile Creek drains the central part. The entire township drains 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 ...

. Most of the

Hannahville Indian Community The Hannahville Indian Community is a federally recognized Potawatomi tribe residing in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, approximately west of Escanaba on a reservation. The reservation, at , lies mostly in Harris Township in eastern Menominee ...

is located within Harris Township.

Communities

* Harris is an unincorporated community in the township on

US 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. ...

and

US 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part i ...

at . A post office named "DeLoughary" was first established here on July 8, 1880, named for its first postmaster, George W. DeLoughary, a local farmer. The office was closed on May 4, 1883, after DeLoughary resigned. The office reopened on July 13, 1883, with postmaster Michael B. Harris, a lumberman who had settled here in 1875 and was later a state legislator. On September 6, 1900, the office was renamed for him. The Harris post office ( ZIP Code 49845) serves the community. * Perronville is an unincorporated community in the township on M-69 at . A railroad was built through here in 1873 to haul ore and timber. The settlement was named for Menasippe Perron, who built a dam and sawmill here in 1883, and became the first postmaster on September 11, 1897. The Perronville post office (ZIP Code 49873) covers the northern half of the township. * Wilson is an unincorporated community in the western part of the township along US 2 and US 41 at . The Wilson post office (ZIP Code 49896) covers the southern third of Harris Township, excluding the community of Harris.

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 1,895 people, 656 households, and 516 families residing in the township. By 2020, there were 2,113 people in the township.

Education

Most of the township is in the Bark River-Harris School District, while a portion is in the North Central Area Schools. Hannahville Indian School, a

Bureau of Indian Education The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs that directs and manages education functions. Formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs ...

-affiliated tribal school (which also functions as a

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

) is in the township.

References

{{authority control Townships in Menominee County, Michigan Marinette micropolitan area Townships in Michigan