Suttons Bay 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 ...

and county seat 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 2,883 at the 2020 census. The village of Suttons Bay is located within the township along

Grand Traverse Bay Grand Traverse Bay ( ) is an arm of Lake Michigan, located along the west coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The bay is separated from the rest of Lake Michigan by the Leelanau Peninsula. The bay is some long, ranges from wide, and up ...

. In a 2004 referendum, voters approved moving 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 ...

from the community of Leland to a site in

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 ...

19 in the southwest corner of the township, nearer to the geographic center of the county. Suttons Bay Township is the only civil township to serve as a county seat in the state of Michigan.

Communities

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians () is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in northwest Michigan on the Leelanau Peninsula. Sandra Witherspoon is the current tribal chairperson, elected in May 2024 to a f ...

headquarters are located within Suttons Bay Township with a small reservation in the northeast portion of the township near Peshawbestown. * Lake Leelanau 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 ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

partially within Suttons Bay Township. The majority of the community is to the west in Leland Township. * Peshawbestown is an unincorporated community along

M-22 M-22 are a British-German DJ and producer duo consisting of Matt James and Frank Sanders. On March 22, the duo met, through a joint production, which is the reason for their stage name. History On March 22, 2015, the duo met during a joint ...

in the northern portion of the township. * Suttons Bay is a village within the township.

History

In 1854, Harry Chittenden Sutton and his crew established a wooding station to provide fuel to wood-burning steamboats. The Sutton name first caused the village to be called Suttonsburg. Pleasant City was another name, but Suttons Bay was later adopted for this growing community. Railroads played an important role in the development of the area. Running through Suttons Bay, the train passed near the site of Sutton's station and the community's next enterprise, a sawmill built by Sutton's son-in-law, George Carr, and connected to Fountain Point, an historic resort site. The township also includes the small

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

community of Peshawbestown, also known as Eagletown. Once a Franciscan mission named after Chief Peshaba, who ruled in the 1880s, this community has grown to include a casino and resort. Other features of Suttons Bay Township include Lake Leelanau on its southwestern corner, which can be accessed by taking M-204 west to the community of Lake Leelanau, where the channel runs between Lake Leelanau's upper and lower lakes. This township is also prime cherry country, with several orchards and wineries among its hills. The township contains Fountain Point, which was built in 1889 and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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 (41.47%) is water. The 45th parallel runs through Suttons Bay Township with a marker along

. The township is bordered on the east by the West Arm of

and partially by Lake Leelanau on the southwest.

Major highways

* runs south–north along the coast of

* runs east–west through the township beginning in the village of Suttons Bay

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 2,982 people, 1,114 households, and 834 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,406 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 75.52%

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 ...

, 0.20%

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 ...

, 19.01% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 3.45% from other races, and 1.71% 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 6.51% of the population. There were 1,114 households, out of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.3% 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, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.1% were non-families. 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.07. In the township the population was spread out, with 28.9% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 26.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.7 males. The median income for a household in the township was $48,068, and the median income for a family was $52,596. Males had a median income of $36,389 versus $22,794 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 $22,640. About 5.8% of families and 7.1% 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 8.9% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Township websiteMichigan DEQ map of Suttons Bay Township

Suttons Bay school website
{{authority control Townships in Leelanau County, Michigan Townships in Michigan County seats in Michigan Traverse City metropolitan area Populated places established in 1863 1863 establishments in Michigan Michigan populated places on Lake Michigan