Paradise 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 Grand Traverse 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 4,952 at the 2020 census, an increase from 4,713 at the 2010 census. The

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

of Kingsley is located within the township.

History

Paradise Township was organized in April 1870 from a portion of Traverse Township – Town 25 north, of Ranges 9 and 10 west, and the south half of Township 26 north of Ranges 9 and 10 west.

Communities

* The village of Kingsley is within the township. All of the township south of Mayfield is served by the Kingsley ZIP code 49649. * Mayfield 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 ...

within the township a few miles north of Kingsley. * Summit City is an unincorporated community within the township, several miles southeast of Kingsley at . Summit City was established as a station on the

Traverse City Railroad The Traverse City Railroad was the owner of a branch railroad from Walton Junction, Michigan, to Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although it partly exten ...

, first called "Summit". A post office at Summit City lasted from 1874 to 1955. * Westminster is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

south of Kingsley at . It was founded as a station on the Traverse City Railroad, and was the site of a lumber mill completed in 1883.

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 (0.13%) is water. The

Boardman River The Boardman River ( '), also known as the Ottaway River ( ') or the Boardman–Ottaway River, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed November 21, 2011 river in the north ...

flows through the north of the township. Paradise Township is the largest township in Grand Traverse County by land area, and second largest in total area, behind Whitewater Township. The township shares a boundary with Wexford County, to the south.

Major highway

* is a state trunkline highway that traverses the township east to west.

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 4,191 people, 1,374 households, and 1,082 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,481 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 97.07%

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 ...

, 0.21%

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 ...

, 0.86% Native American, 0.19% 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 ...

, 0.45% from other races, and 1.19% 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 1.48% of the population. There were 1,374 households, out of which 45.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.8% 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, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.2% were non-families. 15.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.01 and the average family size was 3.32. In the township the population was spread out, with 33.0% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 33.1% from 25 to 44, 18.3% from 45 to 64, and 7.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.4 males. The median income for a household in the township was $44,776, and the median income for a family was $45,652. Males had a median income of $34,804 versus $21,902 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 $16,507. About 4.5% of families and 5.2% 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 6.1% of those under age 18 and 6.1% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{authority control Townships in Grand Traverse County, Michigan Townships in Michigan Traverse City metropolitan area