Kimball 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
St. Clair 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 ...
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, ...
. As of the
2020 census, the township population was 9,609.
Communities
There are a few
unincorporated communities
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 ...
within the township:
* Kimball is near the center of the township at Ditty and Dove Roads just east of North Pine River Road (; Elevation: 636 ft./194 m.). Land purchases were made as early as 1825 but settlement did not begin until about 1840 when Barzillai Wheeler and John S. Kimball arrived. When the township was organized in 1855, it was named for Kimball. It was a station on the Port Huron and Northwestern Railway in 1882 and was given a post office as "Kimbal" in December 1882. The spelling was corrected to Kimball in January 1889 and the office closed in June 1908.
* Smiths Creek is at the southwestern corner of Kimball Township and the northern portion of
Saint Clair Township on the Smiths Creek tributary of the Pine River at . Both the community and the stream were named for Elisha Smith, an early landowner. A post office was established in October 1861. It was given a station on the
Grand Trunk Railroad
The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated ...
line in 1865. Smiths Creek was 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 ...
of St. Clair County from 1869 until April 1871, when it was removed to
Port Huron
Port Huron is a city in and seat of government of St. Clair County, Michigan, United States. The population was 28,983 at the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the west by Port Huron Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
Por ...
.
The St. Clair County Sanitary Landfill is located in Smiths Creek. Smiths Creek is said to be where
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
was kicked off the train, because of his experiments. The train depot is now at Greenfield Village, a part of
the Henry Ford
The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, within Metro Detroit. The museum collection contai ...
. The Smiths Creek
ZIP code, 48074, serves all of Kimball Township.
* Sparlingville is on the west side of the township at Allen and Griswold Roads (; Elevation: 653 ft./199 m.). It was founded by George Sparling, a builder and land developer ''circa'' 1923.
Sparlingville was at one time an incorporated area. The Kimball Township hall is located near Sparlingville, the fire hall, library, and Sparlingville Elementary are located in the community.
*
Thornton, also spelled Thorton, is on the boundary with Wales Township.
* Wadhams is in the northeast corner of the township at Wadhams and Lapeer roads ( ; Elevation: 669 ft. /204 m.). In 1825, Scotsman Robert Smart, with the backing of Detroit interests, built a mill on the
Black River. He named the place "Clyde Mills", after the
River Clyde
The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...
in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, where Smart had lived as a boy. In 1827, Smart sold the mill to Ralph Wadhams. A post office with the name Clyde Mills operated from March 1835 until December 1872.
Clyde Township was organized in March 1836 and took its name from the settlement. When first organized, Clyde Township encompassed the area of what are now 20 townships. When Kimball Township was set off in 1855, the settlement by which Clyde Township derived its name became part of a different township; a fact with reportedly greatly disappointed Ralph Wadhams. A post office was operated with the name "Wadhams" from June 1886 through October 1887, and again from February 1890 until October 1905.
Wadhams has experienced many new developments due to its proximity to
Interstate 69
Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of eight unconnected segments. The longest segment runs from Evansville, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, and includ ...
(I-69) and Old
M-21 (the former route of M-21.)
*West Tappan is located south of Wadhams and I-69 on Wadhams Road at the rail tracks ( ; Elevation: 659 ft./201 m.)
[ ]
Google Map
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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 (0.69%) is water.
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 ...
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 ...
, 0.89% 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 ...
, 0.39% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.02% 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 ...
, 0.44% from other races, and 1.30% 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 1.58% of the population.
There were 3,120 households, out of which 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.1% 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, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.6% were non-families. 17.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the township the population was spread out, with 26.5% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.1 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $47,627, and the median income for a family was $52,558. Males had a median income of $41,707 versus $24,738 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 $19,253. About 5.8% of families and 7.8% 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 7.6% of those age 65 or over.
References
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Townships in St. Clair County, Michigan
Townships in Michigan