Maple Valley 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 ...
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, ...
. The population was 1,908 at the
2020 census.
Geography
The township is in western Montcalm County and is bordered to the south by
Kent County. The center of the township is southeast of
Howard City, west of
Stanton, 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 ...
, and northwest of
Greenville.
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which are land and , or 2.17%, are water.
There are at least 12 named lakes in the township, the largest of which are Cowden Lake in the northeast and Muskellunge Lake in the southeast, next to the community of
Trufant. The northern part of the township drains toward Tamarack Creek, a west-flowing tributary of the
Little Muskegon River, while the remainder is part of the watershed of the
Flat River, a south-flowing tributary of the
Grand River.
Communities
*Colwell was an unincorporated community centered on a station of the
Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. It had a post office from 1879 until 1882.
* Coral is an
unincorporated community
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 ...
in the northwest part of the township at . Coral began as a
lumber camp
A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where lumberjacks would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many ...
organized by Rev. Charles Parker, who purchased land in
sections 7 and 9 in 1861. A sawmill built by Morris and Henry Stump was key to its growth, and for a while the place was known as "Stumptown". Parker recorded a
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 ...
in 1862 and named it "Coral", reportedly "because it was easy to spell." It was a station on the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad, and John Holcomb became the first postmaster on March 22, 1869.
The Coral post office, with ZIP code 49322, serves most of northern Maple Valley Township, as well as portions of
Pine Township to the east and
Winfield Township to the north.
*
Trufant is an unincorporated community and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in the southeast part of the township. The post office, with
ZIP code 49347, serves the southern part of Maple Valley Township, as well as portions of
Pine Township to the east and a small area in
Spencer Township to the south.
ZCTA Reference Map for 49347
, U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census
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 ...
, 0.19% 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 ...
, 0.14% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 0.10% 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 ...
, 0.29% 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 0.82% of the population.
There were 755 households, out of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.7% 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, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.8% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.20.
In the township the population was spread out, with 29.0% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 104.8 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $36,583, and the median income for a family was $40,433. Males had a median income of $32,738 versus $24,236 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 $15,163. About 5.1% 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 6.3% of those under age 18 and 9.2% of those age 65 or over.
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Townships in Montcalm County, Michigan
Townships in Michigan