Sodus 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
Berrien 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 ...
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 1,995 at the
2020 census.
There are no incorporated municipalities in the township. The
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 ...
of Sodus in the northwest of the township is its main settlement; the portion of the township just to the west is part of the
Benton Harbor
Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is 46 miles southwest of Kalamazoo and 71 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. According to the 2020 census, its population was 9,103. It is the smaller, by population, of ...
/
St. Joseph urban area.
History
Probably the first entrepreneur in Sodus Township was James LaRue, a New Jersey native, who purchased riverfront land for the construction of a sawmill in 1835. The first permanent settler, however, was David S. Rector who, in 1837, took possession of 40 acres of land.
[Sodus Township](_blank)
, Berrien County Community Development Department, August 2008. The name of the township came from Rector. He and his brother, William H., came to the area by way of keel boat from
Sodus, New York, so the township was named such in 1859 after the town from which they departed.
In 1853, Joab Enos built a flour mill, also on Pipestone Creek. The township was organized on October 11, 1859.
In 1891, Ernest Tabor established Tabor Farm Summer Resort on the banks of the
St. Joseph River. The resort was open during summers and hosted reunions, conventions and banquets.
[Tabor's Farm Resort]
/ref> From 1961 to 1983, it was owned and managed by Alma
Alma or ALMA may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film
* ''Alma'', an upcoming film by Sally Potter
* ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922
* ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017
* ''Alma'' ( ...
and Valdas Adamkus
Valdas Adamkus (; born Voldemaras Adamkavičius; November 3, 1926) is a Lithuanian politician, diplomat and civil engineer who served as the fifth and seventh president of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009.
Adamku ...
, future President of Lithuania. The resort was closed in 1990.[
Sodus has had retail establishments in the past, though it has none now.
]
Geography
The St. Joseph River forms most of the western boundary of the township, with Royalton Township on the other side of the river. The township shares a short western border with the community of Fair Plain in Benton Charter Township north of the St. Joseph River. Benton Charter Township continues as the township to the north, Bainbridge Township is to the northeast, Pipestone Township to the east, Berrien Township to the southeast, and Oronoko Charter Township to the south. A new segment of US 31 was completed in August 2003 that re-routed the highway through the township. Interstate 94
Interstate 94 (I-94) is an east–west Interstate Highway connecting the Great Lakes and northern Great Plains regions of the United States. Its western terminus is just east of Billings, Montana, at a junction with I-90; its eastern ter ...
crosses the northwest corner of the township with two interchanges located nearby.
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 2.91%, is water.
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 ...
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 ...
, 8.37% 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 ...
, 0.28% Native American, 0.05% Asian, 0.23% 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 ...
, 1.26% from other races, and 2.62% 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 8.74% of the population.
There were 884 households, out of which 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% 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, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.5% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.86.
In the township the population was spread out, with 22.5% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.3 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $33,804, and the median income for a family was $42,250. Males had a median income of $34,018 versus $22,824 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 $17,646. About 6.6% of families and 13.6% 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 12.6% of those under age 18 and 12.3% of those age 65 or over.
Culture
The novel '' At Home in Old Sodus'' by Michael Jewell () is set in Sodus Township.
Notable people
* James Enright, Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...
referee and former Chicago sportswriter
References
External links
Sodus Township official website
Sodus Township Library
{{authority control
Townships in Berrien County, Michigan
Townships in Michigan