Glen Arbor Township, Michigan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Glen Arbor Township is a civil township of Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 788 at the 2000 census.
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[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 226.8 km² (87.6 mi²). 74.0 km² (28.6 mi²) of it is land and 152.8 km² (59.0 mi²) of it (67.34%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 788 people, 377 households, and 257 families residing in the township. The population density was 10.6/km² (27.6/mi²). There were 1,617 housing units at an average density of 21.8/km² (56.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the township was 99.24% White, 0.13% African American, 0.25% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 0.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.63% of the population.
There were 377 households out of which 17.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.9% were married couples living together, 4.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% were non-families. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.56.
In the township the population was spread out with 16.8% under the age of 18, 3.6% from 18 to 24, 14.7% from 25 to 44, 35.7% from 45 to 64, and 29.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 53 years. For every 100 females there were 96.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.0 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $46,719, and the median income for a family was $58,571. Males had a median income of $35,114 versus $30,179 for females. The per capita income for the township was $29,070. About 1.5% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and 2.0% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Lifestyle
Glen Arbor is a popular tourist area for a few months during the summer when the local merchants and year-round inhabitants watch the population nearly triple. Residents of Detroit, Chicago, and many other parts of the Midwest travel to Northern Michigan to enjoy the warm weather and scenic beaches. Glen Arbor is situated on a small strip of land directly between Glen Lake and Lake Michigan which allows visitors to choose from two different bodies of water from which to waterski, fish, or sunbathe. The community sits in the middle of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, a federally protected park.
During the winter months only year-round inhabitants remain in the area to take advantage of outdoor winter sports. Both downhill skiing and cross-country skiing are popular pastimes along with hiking and hunting. Locals typically enjoy the cold and quiet of the winter over the crowds and noise from the tourists, locally referred to as "Fudgies" from the popularity of locally-made fudge with tourists. (See Mackinac Island for more on this term.)
Glen Arbor is home to many other small businesses that thrive off of the tourist economy.
