A township in some states of the United States is a small geographic area.
41-453: Marrs Township is one of ten townships in Posey County, Indiana . At the 2000 census , its population was 4,868. By the 2020 census it had risen to 5,385. Marrs Township was organized in 1817. The township was named for Samuel R. Marrs, a pioneer settler and afterward county commissioner. At the 2020 census there were 5,385 people, 2,094 housing units and 1,949 households residing in
82-587: A Gunter's chain ) with which to measure lengths, as well as poles, and many older legal descriptions of real estate in the United States are given in chains and poles. Some courts have established a list of priorities to resolve inconsistent descriptions of corners. In descending order starting with the most reliable: (1) natural monuments, (2) artificial monuments such as roads and marked or surveyed lines, (3) adjacent tracts or boundaries, (4) courses or directions, (5) distances, and (6) area or quantity. Once such
123-764: A county . The township is identified by a name, such as Penn Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania . The responsibilities and the form of the township government is specified by the state legislature . The most common form of township government has an elected board of trustees or supervisors. Some additional offices, such as clerk or constable , may also be elected. The most common governmental responsibilities of townships include oversight of such things as road maintenance, land-use planning , and trash collection. Many townships in Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania provide police and fire protection, similar to what an incorporated city would provide. In most midwestern states ,
164-418: A civil township often corresponds to a single survey township, although in less populated areas, the civil township may be made up of all or portions of several survey townships. In areas where there are natural features such as a lake or river, the civil township boundaries may follow the geographic features rather than the survey township boundaries. Municipalities such as cities may incorporate or annex land in
205-475: A degree measure out of 90 degrees and another direction west or east). For example, such a bearing might be listed as "N 42°35' W", which means that the bearing is 42°35' counterclockwise, or west of north. This has the advantage of providing the same degree measure regardless of which direction a particular boundary is being followed; the boundary can be traversed in the opposite direction simply by exchanging N for S and E for W. In other words, "N 42°35' W" describes
246-498: A female householder with no spouse. The average household had 2.8 people. The median age was 40.1, 26% of people were under the age of 18, and 18% were 65 years of age or older. Of the residents none spoke a language other than English at home, and 1.3% were born outside the United States, 13% in Europe and 87% in Asia . The median income for a household in the township was $ 119,933. 5.9% of
287-430: A separate type of government to allow greater flexibility for township governments to serve urbanized populations. In Michigan, as in other states with like systems (though sometimes different names), a township is an administrative division of a county, which is an administrative division of the state. Counties and townships are local organs through which state law and public policy are administered, adapted to local need to
328-431: A survey is in place, the corners may have to depend on tradition and long use to establish the line along the boundaries between them. In some areas where land was deeded before 1593, the lengths given predate the changes to the length of the furlong and mile by Queen Elizabeth I . In other places references to the official borders of towns, counties, and states may have changed. Compass directions always have to be tied to
369-528: A table of annual deflections because magnetic north is constantly changing. The description might refer to landmarks such as the large oak tree which could disappear; or be confused with a different tree that had grown later. Streams might dry up, meander or change course. Man-made features such as roads, walls, markers or stakes used to mark corners and determine the line of the boundaries between corners may have been moved. As these features move, change and disappear over time, when it comes time to re-establish
410-435: A township, which is then generally removed from township government. Only one state, Indiana , has township governments covering all its area and population. In other states, some types of municipalities, like villages, remain a part of the township while cities are not. As urban areas expand, a civil township may entirely disappear—see, for example, Mill Creek Township, Hamilton County, Ohio . In other expanding urban areas,
451-539: Is a system or method of describing land, real property (in contrast to personal property ) or real estate . The system has been used in England for many centuries and is still used there in the definition of general boundaries. The system is also used in the Canadian province of Ontario, and throughout Canada for the description of electoral districts . By custom, it was applied in the original Thirteen Colonies that became
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#1733093754150492-409: Is compiled, it may have been marked on the ground with permanent monuments placed where there were no suitable natural monuments. A typical description for a small parcel of land would be: "Commencing at a corner at the intersection of two stone walls near an apple tree on the north side of Muddy Creek road one mile above the junction of Muddy and Indian Creeks, thence north for 150 rods to the end of
533-513: Is not surveyed into townships, but is still a gridded survey. Portions of the Texas State Survey use square townships. Sizeable portions of Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, are unsurveyed. Substantial swampy areas in Florida and Louisiana are also unsurveyed. Both New York and Pennsylvania have metes-and-bounds surveys, but in the western parts of these states,
574-537: Is suspected the corner markers may have been moved. These kinds of problems caused the United States to largely replace this system except in the east. Beginning with the Land Ordinance of 1785 , it began a transition to the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) used in the central and western states. The eastern, or original states, continue to use the metes and bounds surveys of their founders. This system
615-572: Is used in three ways. Survey townships are generally referred to by a number based on the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). A reference to the township will look something like "Township 2 North Range 3 East", or "T2N,R3E" and such a notation is used in property descriptions based on the PLSS . Townships were originally surveyed and platted by the United States General Land Office, using contracted private survey crews, and are marked on
656-576: The Detroit metropolitan area . Towns and townships are sometimes considered minor civil divisions of counties by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. According to the Census Bureau, in 2002, town or township government applied to 16,504 organized governments in the following 20 states: This categorization includes governmental units officially designated as "towns" in
697-1055: The New England states, New York, and Wisconsin, some plantations in Maine and locations in New Hampshire. In Minnesota, the terms town and township are used interchangeably with regard to township governments. Although towns in the six New England states and New York, and townships in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, are legally termed municipal corporations, perform municipal-type functions, and frequently serve densely populated urban areas, they have no necessary relation to concentration of population, and are thus counted for census purposes as town or township governments. Even in states beyond New England, townships often serve urbanized areas and provide municipal services typically provided by incorporated municipalities. The count of 16,504 organized township governments does not include unorganized township areas (where
738-527: The Township of the Borough of Verona or Township of South Orange Village , changed their names to qualify for additional federal aid at the expense of municipalities of other types. Utah and Nevada have areas called townships, but they are not the same as civil townships. These areas are not separate governments, but have been granted some degree of self-rule by a county. Michigan has created charter townships as
779-536: The United States Geological Survey maps of the United States. Townships are normally a square approximately six miles (9.7 km) on a side with cardinal boundaries conforming to meridians and parallels, containing 36 sections of one square mile (2.6 km ) each. The northern and westernmost tier of sections in each township are designed to take up the convergence of the east and west township boundary lines or range lines, as well as any error in
820-504: The 2000 census and 52.4 percent of all towns or townships had fewer than 1000 inhabitants. There was a decline in the number of town or township governments from 16,629 in 1997 to 16,504 in 2002. Nearly all of the decline involved townships in the Midwest. Because township government is defined by each state, the use of this form also varies by state. States using a township form include the following: Metes and bounds Metes and bounds
861-666: The Jackson Purchase (the area west of the Tennessee River) is divided into townships and ranges. In Tennessee, the entire state is surveyed into townships and ranges that make up 13 survey districts of the Tennessee State Survey. In extreme northern Maine there is an area divided into townships and ranges oriented to true north. A region in the central part of the state, made up of 17 surveys, is divided into townships, but these are not oriented to true north. The remainder of
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#1733093754150902-476: The PLSS survey system, but on the older metes and bounds survey system. A New Jersey township differs only in name from other municipalities: its boundaries are fixed, it is an incorporated body, and it is free to adopt another form of government. The federal government formerly had a revenue sharing arrangement that separately allocated funding for townships and other minor civil division types such as cities or boroughs; some New Jersey municipalities, such as
943-463: The Rideau River; thence generally southerly along said river to the easterly production of Borden Side Road; thence westerly along said production to Prince of Wales Drive; [...] The difficulty with permanency of features on the ground does not arise because the electoral districts are redistributed every ten years, allowing districts to be brought into conformity with any features that have changed in
984-466: The United States and in many other land jurisdictions based on English common law , including Zimbabwe, South Africa, India and Bangladesh. While still in hand-me-down use, this system has been largely overtaken in the past few centuries by newer systems such as rectangular (government survey) and lot and block (recorded plat). Typically the system uses physical features of the local geography , along with directions and distances, to define and describe
1025-403: The boundaries of a parcel of land. The boundaries are described in a running prose style, working around the parcel in sequence, from a point of beginning , returning to the same point; compare with the oral ritual of beating the bounds . It may include references to other adjoining parcels (and their owners), and it, in turn, could also be referred to in later surveys. At the time the description
1066-413: The bounds pacing off the distance to the next corner where there is a change of direction. Where watercourses form part of the bounds their meander is generally taken as a straight line between the established corners and their monuments. In many deeds, the direction is described not by azimuth (a clockwise degree measure out of 360 degrees) but instead by bearing (a direction north or south followed by
1107-416: The corners along the line of these boundaries (for sale, subdivision, or building construction) it can become difficult, even impossible, to determine the original location of the corner. In the metes and bounds system, corners, distance, direction, monuments and bounds are always carried back to the original intent regardless of where they are now. Court cases are sometimes required to settle the matter when it
1148-632: The extent the law allows. A charter township is a township that has been granted a charter, which allows it certain rights and responsibilities of home rule that are generally intermediary in scope between those of a city (a semi-autonomous jurisdiction in Michigan) and a village, which (unless it is a home-rule village) is subject to the authority of the township(s) in which it is located. Charter townships may also reorganize themselves into municipalities, as can be seen in Wayne County, Michigan , and elsewhere in
1189-544: The interprovincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec with a line running 45°00'W from the mouth of the Rideau Canal; thence S45°00'E along said line to the mouth of the Rideau Canal; thence generally southeasterly along said canal to the northeasterly production of Frank Street; thence northeasterly along said production to the intersection of Greenfield Avenue with Nicholas Street; thence southeasterly along Nicholas Street to Highway No. 417; thence easterly along said highway to
1230-402: The metes-and-bounds form square townships many of which are also civil townships. Besides these, nearly every state has areas of metes-and-bounds that were never included in the grids (like along major rivers) or were removed from the grid, usually due to surveying mistakes. The township government is a unit of local government, often rural. Townships are geographic and political subdivisions of
1271-601: The population were military veterans , and 34.2% had a batchelors degree or higher . In the CDP 9.9% of the population was below the poverty line , including 10% of those under age 18 and 12% of those age 65 or over. It is within the Metropolitan School District of Mt. Vernon , which operates Mount Vernon High School . This Posey County, Indiana location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Township (United States) The term
Marrs Township, Posey County, Indiana - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-403: The same boundary as "S 42°35' E" but is traversed in the opposite direction. In most distance measures, especially those in older deeds and where measuring distances over a furlong , boundary lengths are listed in rods or poles instead of feet or meters . Rods and poles are equivalent measures equaling 16.5 feet. There are four rods in one chain . English surveyors carried chains (such as
1353-658: The state is on metes and bounds . Similarly, Vermont and New Hampshire are mostly metes-and-bounds states, but have areas in the north that are surveyed into townships not oriented to true north. Most of Ohio is surveyed using the Public Land Survey System, but several sizable areas are metes-and-bounds, including the Virginia Military Reserve, Donation Tract, French Grant and the three Moravian grants (Gnadenhutten, Schoenbrunn and Salem). A 150,000-acre (61,000 ha) area in southern Indiana ( Clark's Grant )
1394-505: The stone wall bordering the road, thence northwest along a line to a large standing rock on the corner of the property now or formerly belonging to John Smith, thence west 150 rods to the corner of a barn near a large oak tree, thence south to Muddy Creek road, thence down the side of the creek road to the point of commencement." The sequence begins with an identified corner serving as benchmark. The description then gives distance, direction and various boundary descriptions as if one were walking
1435-529: The survey measurements, and therefore these sections vary slightly from being one square mile or 640 acres (260 ha). Survey townships exist in some form in most states other than the original Thirteen Colonies , Kentucky , Tennessee , Vermont , and Maine . Irregular or fractional townships with fewer than a full 36 sections are created where full townships cannot be laid out due to existing senior boundaries, such as Spanish/Mexican ranchos , Indian reservations , state boundary lines, etc. In Kentucky,
1476-447: The territory of electoral districts, particularly in urban areas where the districts may subdivide municipalities or otherwise not conform to municipal boundaries. For example, the definition for the federal electoral district of Ottawa Centre in the 2012 representation order reads (in part): Consisting of that part of the City of Ottawa described as follows: commencing at the intersection of
1517-502: The township may exist in name only, but has no organized government) or where the townships are coextensive with cities and the cities have absorbed the township functions. It also does not include the townships in Iowa (see Iowa townships ), which are not separate governments, but are classified as subordinate agencies of county governments. Of the 16,504 town or township governments, only 1,179 (7.1 percent) had as many as 10,000 inhabitants in
1558-520: The township may incorporate itself into a city; this can be seen in the numerous square cities of Hennepin , Anoka , and Washington counties in Minnesota . The Montgomery County, Ohio , cities of Trotwood (1996, formerly Madison Township), Huber Heights (1980, Wayne Township), and Kettering (1955, Van Buren Township) are further examples of townships incorporating into cities. Pennsylvania and New Jersey have civil townships that are not based on
1599-416: The township. The population density was 104.6 inhabitants per square mile. The racial makeup was 94% White , 1% African American , 0% Native American , 1% Asian , 0% Pacific Islander , 2% from other races , and 2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 0% of the population. Of the family households, 76% were married couples, 5% were a male householder with no spouse, and 5% were
1640-553: The use of metes and bounds, even in jurisdictions where land plats are not otherwise based upon metes and bounds. Such mapping generally uses streets and their intersections to define the boundaries of election districts, wards, precincts, inter alia . E.g. : "From the intersection of Main Street and John Doe Boulevard, thence north to ABC Drive, thence generally east along the median of ABC Drive to 123rd Street, thence..." In Canada, metes and bounds are frequently used to officially define
1681-503: Was imported to the original colonies that formed the United States. It is also used in some states that were previously part of one of the Thirteen Colonies , or where land was allocated before 1785. These include West Virginia, Kentucky, Maine, Tennessee and Vermont. Because Texas was an independent republic prior to statehood, its land system is primarily metes and bounds. Election constituency boundaries continue to be described by