Solon 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 Leelanau 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 1,562 at the 2020 census. Solon Township is home to the community of

Cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae * Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona ...

History

Solon Township was organized in October 1871.

Communities

* Cedar is a small

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 ...

at at the corners of

section Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

s five, six, seven and eight. It was founded in approximately 1885 by lumberman Benjamin Boughey. He named it Cedar City because it was in a cedar forest. The depot 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 ...

continued to be known as Cedar City, long after the post office named simply Cedar was established on August 15, 1893. The Cedar post office, with ZIP code 49621, serves most of Solon Township as well as a large part of Centerville Township to the north, and smaller portions of Cleveland Township to the northwest, Kasson Township to the west, and Elmwood Township to the east. In 1905, the Cedar State Bank was begun, which survived the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

in 1933, but was closed later in the decade. The bank building was later used for the offices of the Leelanau Telephone Company. Each year in July, Cedar is host to the annual Cedar Polka Festival, which began in 1975. * Fouch is a small unincorporated community on the south end of

Lake Leelanau Lake Leelanau ( ) is a lake that is located in the Leelanau Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The lake is divided into two basins, usually referred to as ''North Lake Leelanau'' and ''South Lake Leelanau'', which are divided by the Lak ...

at . It is named after John R. Fouch, who settled there in 1866. In 1893, he built a hotel for fishermen, and when the Manistee and North-Eastern Railroad was built, the station on his land was named for him. He became the first postmaster on March 3, 1893. The office closed on November 13, 1895 and was restored as a summer post office on May 20, 1905 and operated until 1908. After Fouch's death, Daniel Perrin acquired the land in 1927 and developed a summer colony known as Perrin's Landing. Fouch Hill, now the site of ''Timberlee Hills'', is just south of Fouch. * Solon is a small unincorporated community at on the Cedar Run Creek between sections 21 and 22 in the central part of the township. It was first settled in the 1860s and named for

Solon, Ohio Solon ( ) is a city in southeastern Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 24,262 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb of Cleveland, it is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. History In 1820, the first ...

, from where many of the settlers had migrated. A post office operated from February 3, 1870 until June 15, 1909. * The city of

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 extends into Leelanau County. The city's population was 15,678 at the 2020 census, while the four-county Traverse C ...

is to the east and the Traverse City post office with ZIP code 49684 also serves portions of southern and eastern Solon Township.

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 29.7 square miles (76.9 km), of which 26.6 square miles (68.9 km) is land and 3.1 square miles (8.0 km) (10.40%) is water.

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorolog ...

region has large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Solon Township has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Solon Township, Leelanau County, Michigan
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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 1,542 people, 595 households, and 464 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 738 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 97.21%

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 ...

, 0.13%

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 ...

, 0.84% Native American, 0.71% Asian, 0.32% from other races, and 0.78% 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 0.45% of the population. There were 595 households, out of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% 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, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.0% were non-families. 18.2% 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 2.59 and the average family size was 2.95. In the township the population was spread out, with 26.5% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.3 males. The median income for a household in the township was $47,448, and the median income for a family was $53,571. Males had a median income of $37,045 versus $25,481 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 $22,987. About 2.2% of families and 3.6% 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 3.4% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Solon Township WebsiteCedar, Michigan - Business Listings, History, and Polka Festival Information
{{authority control Townships in Leelanau County, Michigan Townships in Michigan Traverse City metropolitan area