Torch Lake 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 Antrim 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, ...

. Located in the

Northern Lower Peninsula 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 and Isle Royale, which are ...

, the township comprises an

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

between the eponymous Torch Lake and

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 ...

, a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 1,212, a slight increase from 1,194 at the 2010 census.

Communities

*Creswell is a ghost town in central Torch Lake Township at . Creswell was settled in 1852, and was awarded a post office in 1869, operating until 1904. * Eastport 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 ...

located at the northern end of Torch Lake at . It was first settled by woodsman Murdock Anress in 1863. A hotel was built by Mr. Phillips in 1869. A post office name "Wilson" was established in March 1872 and renamed "Eastport" in September 1873. The name was an analog to the village of Northport on the opposite side of the

, but the bay shore project was abandoned and the village developed at the northern end of Torch Lake. *Torch Lake is a small unincorporated community on US Route 31 along the northwest shore of Torch Lake at .

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 , or 28.48%, is water.

Major highways

* runs north–south through the center of the township. North of Torch Lake Township, US 31 runs through

Charlevoix Charlevoix ( , ) is a cultural and natural region in Quebec, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River as well as in the Laurentian Mountains area of the Canadian Shield. This dramatic landscape includes rolling terrain, fjords, headlands ...

and Petoskey, and to the south, through

Elk Rapids Elk Rapids is a village in the U.S. state of Michigan. The village is the largest incorporated community in Antrim County, with a population of 1,529 at the 2020 census. The village is located within Elk Rapids Township, in the southwest of Ant ...

and

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 an east–west highway with its western terminus in Torch Lake Township, at US Route 31. The highway runs southeasterly through Central Lake and Bellaire before ending at

US 131 US Highway 131 (US 131) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway, of which all but 0.64 of its 269.96 miles (1.03 of 434.46 km) are within the state of Michigan. The highway starts in rural Indiana south of the state lin ...

and M-66 in Mancelona.

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 1,159 people, 498 households, and 377 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 1,134 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 96.98%

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 ...

, 0.78%

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 ...

, 0.17% Native American, 0.09% Asian, 0.95% from other races, and 1.04% 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 2.50% of the population. There were 498 households, out of which 19.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.9% 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, 3.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.1% were non-families. 20.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.66. In the township the population was spread out, with 18.1% under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 17.5% from 25 to 44, 32.2% from 45 to 64, and 27.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.6 males. The median income for a household in the township was $43,816, and the median income for a family was $47,500. Males had a median income of $32,212 versus $30,313 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 $24,984. About 4.8% of families and 9.4% 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 25.0% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Torch Lake Township official website
{{authority control Townships in Antrim County, Michigan Townships in Michigan Michigan populated places on Lake Michigan