Lansing Charter Township, Michigan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lansing Charter Township is a charter township in Ingham County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,458 at the 2000 census.
The cities of Lansing and East Lansing have incorporated much of the land that formerly constituted the township reducing the township from its original 36 square miles to its current 4.9 square miles. The township now consists of five noncontiguous tracts of land, one on the west side of the city, three on the east side, between Lansing and East Lansing and one on the southeast side of the city.
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[edit] History
The township was organized in 1842, and included what, today, is most of the City of Lansing. It was named after after the hometown of one of the township's original settlers.[1] The township experienced its first loss of land in 1859 when Lansing was officially incorporated as a city.
[edit] Township description
The western section of the township is the largest section of the township, and includes most all of the township's industrial developments including the large General Motors Lansing Craft Centre and General Motors Lansing Metral Center automobile factories, both of which were closed and shuttered in early 2006 [2]. It also contains the 9-hole Waverly Golf Course and the adjacent West Michigan Avenue Park which includes a sledding hill and Little League Baseball field, both of which are owned and operated by the City of Lansing[3]. At the northend of this section of the township north of Saginaw Avenue lies the CDP (Census Designated Place) of Edgemont Park.
The northeastern section of the township is heavily industrialized on its western end (west of Wood Road), but since 2002 this section has become the 'downtown' of Lansing Township with the construction of the Eastwood Towne Center[4], one of the largest shopping malls in Metropolitan Lansibg, and the subsequent creation of the Lansing Township Downtown Development Authority to capture state and national funds for development.
The central eastern sections of the township are almost exclusively residential, save for a small strip of land that runs along either side of US 127. The northern portion of these two sections contain the large Grosebeck neighborhood, and the smaller southern portion includes part of the Urbandale neighborhood.
The southeastern section of the township is exclusively rural in nature, and contains experimental farms for Michigan State University
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 13.1 km² (5.1 mi²). 12.8 km² (4.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (1.98%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 8,458 people, 4,104 households, and 2,047 families residing in the township. The population density was 659.7/km² (1,709.0/mi²). There were 4,317 housing units at an average density of 336.7/km² (872.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the township was 82.93% White, 8.43% African American, 0.48% Native American, 2.07% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.17% from other races, and 2.88% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.33% of the population.
There were 4,104 households out of which 22.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.3% were married couples living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.1% were non-families. 40.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.78.
In the township the population was spread out with 20.9% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $41,017, and the median income for a family was $50,632. Males had a median income of $37,124 versus $28,829 for females. The per capita income for the township was $22,885. About 5.2% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.
