Washington Charter Township, located within

Metro Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...

, is a

charter township A charter township is a form of Local government in the United States, local government in the U.S. state of Michigan. While all townships in Michigan are organized governments, a charter township has been granted a charter, which allows it cert ...

of Macomb 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 28,165 at the 2020 census, up from 25,139 in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

History

Washington Township was organized in 1827. It is home to the historic

Octagon House Octagon houses are eight-sided houses that were popular in the United States and Canada mostly in the 1850s. They are characterized by an octagonal (eight-sided) Floor plan, plan and often feature a flat roof and a veranda that circles the hous ...

, built by Loren Andrus from 1858 to 1860. Westview Orchards was founded in what is now Washington Township in 1813. The Mount Vernon Cemetery, located at the southeast corner of Mt. Vernon Road and 28 Mile Road, is evidence of a former settlement, named for George Washington’s estate. The village of Mount Vernon once had a post office with

William Austin Burt William Austin Burt (June 13, 1792 – August 18, 1858) was an American inventor, legislator, surveyor, and millwright. Burt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and lived in Michigan from 1822 until his death in 1858. He was a mem ...

as its first postmaster in 1832.

Geography

Washington Township is in northwestern Macomb County and is bordered to the west by Oakland County. The village of

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lord Montague, Lord Montague and his wife, Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lady Montague, Lady Montague, he ...

is partially in the northeast part of the township. Ray Township is to the east, Shelby Township is to the south, and Bruce Township is to the north. Washington Township is north of downtown

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. 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 are land and , or 3.46%, are water.

Communities

*Clifton Mills 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 ...

near the intersection of 31 Mile Rd. and Mt. Vernon Rd. ( ;Elevation: 853 ft./260 m.). *Mount Vernon is an unincorporated community in the southwest portion of the township at Mt. Vernon and 28 Mile Roads ( ;Elevation: 830 ft./253 m.). *

is a village in the northeast corner of the township. Most of the village is in adjacent Bruce Township. *Washington is an unincorporated community in the south central portion of the township just west of M-53 at . Located at the intersection of North 26 Mile Rd. and VanDyke Ave.

Weather

Weather in Washington Township (an outer suburb of Detroit) is similar to Detroit, generally being only a few degrees cooler allowing for more snow in the winter. A notable weather event occurred on July 2, 1997, when during the Michigan Tornado Outbreak an F0 tornado touched down at 26 Mile Road and destroyed parts of the East Village Estates trailer park community. Six people were injured during the events.

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 2010, there were 25,139 people (up from 19,080 in 2000), 9,258 households, and 7,160 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 9,258 occupied housing units and 612 vacant units. The racial makeup of the township was 94.8%

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 ...

, 1.6%

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 ...

, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 0.04%

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 ...

, 1.0% from other races, and 1.3% 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 people of any race were 3.9% of the population. There were 9,258 households, out of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.9% 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, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.7% were non-families. 19.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.11. In the township the population was spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 23.3% from 25 to 44, 30.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.7 males. The median income for a household in the township was $68,841 in 2000 and $83,348 in 2016; the median income for a family was $78,988 in 2000 and $94,057 in 2016. In 2000, males had a median income of $60,721 versus $31,213 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 $38,657. About 5.7% 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 ...

(up from 2.8% of families and 3.7% of all individuals in 2000), including 9.6% of those under age 18 (up from 5.0% in 2000) and 5.9% of those age 65 or over (up from 2.7% in 2000).

Government

The township has a supervisor-board style government with an elected supervisor, clerk, treasurer and four trustees. The

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

s serving the township residents are Romeo Community Schools, Utica Community Schools, and Rochester Schools from Oakland County.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Townships in Macomb County, Michigan Charter townships in Michigan 1827 establishments in Michigan Territory Populated places established in 1827