Sanford is a village in Midland 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 813 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Jerome Township.

History

In 1864, Charles Sanford of Madison County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, purchased of land where the village is now located, along with of pine land. The site was first known as the "Salt-Spring Reserve", and was the location of the first

salt well A salt well (or brine well) is used to mine salt from caverns or deposits. Water is used as a solution to dissolve the salt or halite deposits so that they can be extracted by pipe to an evaporation process, which results in either a brine or a d ...

in the state.

Douglass Houghton Douglass Houghton (September 21, 1809 – October 13, 1845) was an American geologist and physician, primarily known for his exploration of the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. It was the site of a copper boom and extensive copper mining beginning ...

, the state surveyor and geologist, supervised sinking the shaft of the well. Charles Sanford moved there in May 1864. He platted the village in 1870. Romig identifies Jay F. Hamilton as the first postmaster of "Sanfordville" on June 23, 1871, while the ''Portrait and biographical album of Midland county, Mich.'' lists Phineas Hamilton as the first postmaster. The name was shortened to "Sanford" on July 13, 1871. Also in 1871, the

Pere Marquette Railroad The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its p ...

built a station in Sanford. In 1963, residents of Sanford voted to incorporate as a village. In 1982, Sanford voters approved the repeal of its incorporation, but a Michigan court overturned the election results on the grounds that it should have been presented as one proposal instead of two. On May 19, 2020, the Sanford Dam and

Edenville Dam Edenville Dam was an earthen embankment dam at the confluence of the Tittabawassee River and the Tobacco River in Mid Michigan, United States, forming Wixom Lake. The dam was about north of Edenville, mostly in the southeast corner of Tobac ...

on the

Tittabawassee River The Tittabawassee River ( ) flows in a generally southeasterly direction through the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The river begins at Secord Lake in Clement Township, at the confluence of the East Branch and the Middle Branch ...

collapsed, forcing the evacuation of the village and largely destroying its downtown.

Geography

Sanford is in central Midland County, on the eastern side of Jerome Township. It is northwest of Midland, 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 southeast of

Coleman Coleman may refer to: Places Antarctica * Coleman Glacier (Antarctica) * Coleman Peak, Ross Island Canada * Coleman, Alberta * Coleman, Ontario * Coleman, Prince Edward Island United Kingdom * Coleman, Leicester, England United States * C ...

U.S. Route 10 U.S. Route 10 or U.S. Highway 10 (US 10) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway located in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions of the U.S. Despite the "0" as the last digit in the number, US 10 is no longer a cross- ...

, a four-lane freeway, passes through the north side of the village, connecting Midland and Coleman.

M-30 (Michigan highway) M-30 is a state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan that runs in a north–south direction from M-46 near Merrill to M-55 in West Branch. The highway runs through rural parts of five counties in the Lower Peninsula. The southern ...

runs along the eastern edge of the village, leading south to

Merrill Merrill may refer to: Places in the United States *Merrill Field, Anchorage, Alaska *Merrill, Iowa *Merrill, Maine *Merrill, Michigan *Merrill, Mississippi, an unincorporated community near Lucedale in George County *Merrill, Oregon *Merrill, Wisc ...

and north to West Branch. 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 village of Sanford has a total area of , of which are land and , or 17.8%, are water. The village sits along the

at what until 2020 was the south end of

Sanford Lake Sanford Lake was a man-made reservoir located in Midland County, Michigan, but is no longer present since the failure of the dam in May 2020. It was formed by the damming of the Tittabawassee River near the village of Sanford, Michigan. It was ...

, an impoundment on the river.

Demographics

2010 census

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 2010, there were 859 people, 369 households, and 247 families residing in the village. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 410 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.6%

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 ...

, 0.1%

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 ...

, 0.6% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 0.6% 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 2.6% of the population. There were 369 households, of which 26.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% 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, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 33.1% were non-families. 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.85. The median age in the village was 43.6 years. 21.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.1% were from 25 to 44; 31.5% were from 45 to 64; and 16.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 48.3% male and 51.7% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 943 people, 382 households, and 260 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 407 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 98.20%

, 0.21%

, 0.11% Native American, 0.64% from other races, and 0.85% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 1.38% of the population. There were 382 households, out of which 31.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.7% were

living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.9% were non-families. 25.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.02. In the village, the population was spread out, with 24.9% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 29.9% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males. The median income for a household in the village was $39,063, and the median income for a family was $48,083. Males had a median income of $33,036 versus $28,500 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 village was $20,599. About 4.4% 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 6.4% of those under age 18 and 1.0% of those age 65 or over.

Sources

*Romig, Walter, L.H.D. ''Michigan Place Names''. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986 *''Portrait and biographical album of Midland county, Mich.'' Evansville, Ind.:Unigraphic, 1976

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=micounty;cc=micounty;sid=07db77c67a1608e5bfd992f0b9a10046;q1=Sanford;rgn=full%20text;idno=bad1111.0001.001;view=image;seq=00000380]

References

External links

*
Sanford Centennial Museum
* {{authority control Villages in Midland County, Michigan Villages in Michigan 1870 establishments in Michigan Populated places established in 1870