Lake Charter Township is a

charter township A charter township is a form of Local government in the United States, local government in the U.S. state of Michigan. While all townships in Michigan are organized governments, a charter township has been granted a charter, which allows it cert ...

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, ...

. The population was 3,316 at the 2020 census. The township is located in the west central portion of the county.

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 ...

and the city of Bridgman are to the west, Lincoln Township to the north, Baroda Township to the east, Weesaw Township to the south, and Chikaming Township to the southwest.

Communities

*Browntown was a village in Lake Township that was platted in 1861. It no longer exists. *Livingston is a small unincorporated community in the township at the junction of Livington and Gast roads, just east of I-94 and Red Arrow Highway at in

section Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

8 in the northern part of the township. A post office was established in August 1890 and operated until July 1912. In 1848, a village of 80 blocks 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 in section 25 with the name Livingston, but nothing became of it and it soon became farm property.

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 , or 0.20%, is water. I-94 passes through the township, parallel to the Lake Michigan shore.

Warren Dunes State Park Warren Dunes State Park is a public recreation area located along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan in Berrien County, Michigan. The state park's large sand dunes and lakeshore beaches make it one of the most popular of List of Michigan state ...

is in the southwest of the township.

Flooding

Lake Charter Township derived its name from the existence of a high water table. The community was built on top of an ancient lake named "Lake Baroda". Due to the soil composition and failure of state and local governments to maintain infrastructure to manage storm water, the area is prone to flooding. There has been significant flooding in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2023. In some of these cases, homeowners have been displaced for several weeks or months due to the extent of damage. Although homeowners have experienced significant losses due to flooding, the area is not recognized as an official FEMA flood zone. Berrien County has not requested a declaration of a state of emergency in any of these instances so residents are unable to recoup of the costs for damages.

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 3,148 people, 1,171 households, and 892 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,366 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 97.74%

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 ...

, 0.67%

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 ...

, 0.29% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.03%

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 ...

, 0.19% from other races, and 0.83% 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 0.92% of the population. There were 1,171 households, out of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.2% 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, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.8% were non-families. 21.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.02. In the township the population was spread out, with 24.8% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.3 males. The median income for a household in the township was $49,764, and the median income for a family was $57,228. Males had a median income of $41,673 versus $26,531 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 $21,666. About 6.4% of families and 8.7% 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 10.8% of those under age 18 and 13.3% of those age 65 or over.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

External links

Lake Charter Township official website
{{Authority control Townships in Berrien County, Michigan Charter townships in Michigan