McMillan 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 Luce 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 2,471 at the 2020 census. At of total land area, McMillan Township is the largest municipality by area in the state of Michigan. McMillan Township occupies 65.5% of Luce County's land area and also contains the village of

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (1956–2023), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Ne ...

, which is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in the county. The township contains two state parks: Muskallonge Lake State Park and the western portion of

Tahquamenon Falls State Park The Tahquamenon Falls State Park is a public recreation area in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the second largest of List of Michigan state parks, Michigan's state parks. Bordering on Lake Superior, most of the park is located within Whitef ...

, which also includes the Upper Tahquamenon Falls. Crisp Point Light is also located in the northeast corner of the township.

Geography

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 ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and (2.58%) is water. The township has a long shoreline along

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

and also includes numerous other lakes and rivers, such as Blind Sucker River, Carp River, Little Two Hearted River,

Tahquamenon River The Tahquamenon River ( ) is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed January 3, 2012 blackwater river in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The river flows ...

, and Two Hearted River, as well as Muskallonge Lake. The

North Country Trail The North Country Trail (NCT, officially designated the North Country National Scenic Trail) is a long-distance hiking trail in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Northeastern United States, Northeastern United States. The trail exten ...

also passes through the township.

Major highways

* runs north–south through the south-central portion of the township. * , known locally as Deer Park Road, runs along the shores of Lake Superior and connects to Pictured Rocks.

Communities

* Betty B Landing 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 ...

located along the

at . The landing is the northern terminus of a private railroad spur from Soo Junction, which now operates as the Toonerville Trolley Riverboat Tour offering tours on the 24-inch

gauge Gauge ( ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, especia ...

railroad. The branch was built by the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad from Soo Junction to the Hunter & Love Lumber Company mill on the Tahquamenon River in 1911. Built in

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

, the line was converted to

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

to accommodate the mining engines used to pull the trolley tour's cars by Joseph Beech, Sr., founder of the riverboat tours. * Deer Park is an unincorporated community located at . * Dollarville is an unincorporated community just west of Newberry at . * Eightmile Corner is an unincorporated community located along H-37 in the western portion of the township at . * Fourmile Corner is an unincorporated community located at the intersection of H-37 and M-123 at . It located about north of Newberry. * Hunter's Mill is a former lumbering settlement located between Newberry and Soo Junction. *

is a village centered along M-123 at . * Lencel is an unincorporated community located along the railway line just east of Newberry at . * McPhees Landing is an unincorporated community located along the Tahquamenon River at . * Natalie is an unincorporated community located along the railway line just west of Dollarville at . * Pine Stump Junction is an unincorporated community located along Deer Park Road between Deer Park and Newberry at . *Soo Junction is an unincorporated community located east of Newberry at . The community was named for its location along a railway junction of the South Shore and Atlantic Railroad and had its own post office from January 19, 1891 until May 30, 1941.

Demographics

At 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 2010, there were 2,692 people, 1,193 households, and 701 families residing in the township. The racial makeup of the township was 82.2%

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 ...

, 0.3%

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 ...

, 6.2% Native American, 0.2% 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 ...

, 0.79% from other races, and 4.1% 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 1.6% of the population. In 2020, its population was 2,471. In 2010, there were 2,692 households, out of which 24.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.7% 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, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.2% were non-families. 55.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 30.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.84.

Gallery

File:Newberry, Michigan along M-123 (June 2021).jpg, File:Muskallonge Lake State Park, Lake Superior (June 2021).jpg, File:Crisp Point (June 2021).jpg, File:The Upper Tahquamenon Falls - 51141654007.jpg,

References

Works cited

* {{authority control Townships in Luce County, Michigan Townships in Michigan Michigan populated places on Lake Superior Populated places established in 1920 1920 establishments in Michigan