Oliver 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 ...

Kalkaska County Kalkaska County ( ) is located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, its population was 17,939. The county seat is Kalkaska. Kalkaska County is part of the Traverse City metropolitan area. Although it is located on Michigan's ...

in the U.S. state 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 292 at the 2020 census, making it the least-populous township in Kalkaska County. Oliver Township is part of the

Traverse City micropolitan area The Traverse City Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties in Northern Michigan, anchored by the city of Traverse City. This area is commonly referred to as Northwestern ...

, and is considered part of

Northern Michigan Northern Michigan (also known as Northern Lower Michigan and colloquially within Michigan as "Up North") is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. The region, which is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsul ...

History

Oliver Township was organized in 1881.

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 (0.86%) is water. The main and north branch of the

Manistee River The Manistee River ( ', seldom referred to as the Big Manistee River) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed November 21, 2011 river in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. s ...

flows through the township. Oliver Township doesn't contain any state trunkline highways.

Communities

* Sigma () 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 north of the township. Sigma was established in 1910 as a station on the

Manistee and North-Eastern Railroad The Manistee and North-Eastern Railroad Railway Equipment and Publication CompanyThe Official Railway Equipment Register June 1917, p. 579 was a short, standard-gauge line in the U.S. state of Michigan. Organized in 1887, it served several counti ...

, with an adjacent general store. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was established in 1914, with William T. Kirkby as the first

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

. The post office closed in 1929.

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 263 people, 113 households, and 83 families residing in the township. 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 242 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 97.34%

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 ...

, 1.14%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, and 1.52% from two or more races. There were 113 households, out of which 23.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.6% 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, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.5% were non-families. 22.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.2% 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 2.69. In the township the population was spread out, with 17.9% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 34.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.9 males. The median income for a household in the township was $30,104, and the median income for a family was $32,778. Males had a median income of $24,063 versus $17,250 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 $15,153. About 6.4% of families and 8.4% 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 3.7% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those 65 or over.

References

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