Pokagon 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 Cass 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 2,119 at the 2020 census. The township includes the unincorporated communities of Pokagon and Sumnerville, adjacent to each other on M-51. Pokagon Township is the location of the first public performance of the hymn "

The Old Rugged Cross "The Old Rugged Cross" is a popular hymn written in 1912 by American evangelist and song-leader George Bennard (1873–1958). History George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio, but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvat ...

", the birthplace of journalist

Webb Miller Webb Colby Miller (born 1943) is an American bioinformatician who is professor in the Department of Biology and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Education Miller attended Whitman College, ...

, and the location of the government offices of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.

Geography

Pokagon Township is located in western Cass County and is bordered to the west by Berrien County. The city of Dowagiac is on the northeast border of the township. 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 0.67%, is water. The Dowagiac River, a tributary of the St. Joseph River, flows from north to south across the western side of the township.

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 2,199 people, 818 households, and 630 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 912 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 86.95%

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 ...

, 6.46%

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 ...

, 1.09% Native American, 0.64% Asian, 2.50% from other races, and 2.36% 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 5.41% of the population. There were 818 households, out of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.1% 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, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.9% were non-families. 19.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 2.93. In the township the population was spread out, with 23.6% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 27.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 males. The

median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...

for a household in the township was $38,850, and the median income for a family was $41,286. Males had a median income of $30,040 versus $25,573 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 $18,215. About 6.1% of families and 8.3% 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 10.1% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{authority control Townships in Cass County, Michigan South Bend – Mishawaka metropolitan area Townships in Michigan