A principal meridian is a meridian used for survey control in a large region.
38-567: The Michigan meridian is the principal meridian (or north–south line) used as a reference in the Michigan Survey , the survey of the U.S. state of Michigan in the early 19th century. It is located at 84 degrees, 21 minutes and 53 seconds west longitude. It forms the boundary between several counties in the state. The meridian was surveyed by Benjamin Hough in April 1815. The meridian
76-599: A clerk, trustee, or mayor (in New Jersey and the metro townships of Utah ). Township officers frequently include justice of the peace , road commissioner , assessor , constable , in addition to surveyor . In the 20th century, many townships also added a township administrator or supervisor to the officers as an executive for the board. In some cases, townships run local libraries , senior citizen services, youth services, disabled citizen services, cemetery services, besides emergency assistance. In some states,
114-430: A county. The U.S. Census Bureau classifies civil townships as minor civil divisions . Currently, there are 20 states with civil townships, including Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia (in certain areas). Township functions are generally overseen by a governing board (the name varies from state to state) and
152-774: A large region, and which divides townships between east and west. The meridian meets its corresponding baseline at the point of origin, or initial point , for the land survey. For example, the Mount Diablo Meridian , used for surveys in California and Nevada, runs north–south through the summit of Mount Diablo . Often, meridians are marked with roads, such as the Meridian Avenue in San Jose, California , Meridian Road in Vacaville, California , both on
190-435: A name in the form " Name Township". In both documents and conversation, "town" and "township" are used interchangeably. Minnesota townships can be either Non-Urban or Urban (giving the township government greater power), but this is not reflected in the township's name. In Ohio , a city or village is overlaid onto a township unless it withdraws by establishing a paper township . Where the paper township does not extend to
228-483: A state. For example, townships in the northern part of Illinois are active in providing public services—such as road maintenance, after-school care, and senior services—whereas townships in southern Illinois frequently delegate these services to the county. Most townships in Illinois also provide services such as snow removal, senior transportation, and emergency services to households residing in unincorporated parts of
266-783: A township and a municipality that is coterminous with that township may wholly or partially consolidate their operations. Depending on the state, the township government has varying degrees of authority. In the Upper Midwestern states near the Great Lakes , civil townships (known in Michigan as general law townships and in Wisconsin as towns), are often, but not always, overlaid on survey townships. The degree to which these townships are functioning governmental entities varies from state to state and in some cases even within
304-574: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about geography terminology is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a county , most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England , New York , as well as Wisconsin to refer to
342-708: Is a historical village of Meridian located on the line. Both it and Okemos are within Meridian Township , State highways M-30 in Midland and Gladwin counties, and M-129 in Chippewa and Mackinac counties are known as Meridian Road as well. In the area of Ohio known as the Toledo Strip , the townships are numbered from the Michigan meridian and Michigan baseline because at the time they were surveyed,
380-504: Is divided into townships as mandated since the North Carolina Constitution of 1868. Some urbanized counties such as Mecklenburg County ( Charlotte ) now number their townships (e.g. "Township 12") rather than using names. Townships all over the state used to have some official organization and duties but now are only considered ceremonial divisions of each county. Township names are still used quite extensively at
418-722: Is exactly ten miles west of the Red River at the Canada–United States border. Six other meridians were designated at four-degree intervals westward, with the seventh located in British Columbia; the second and fourth meridians form the general eastern border and the western border of Saskatchewan . In the United States Public Land Survey System , a principal meridian is the principal north–south line used for survey control in
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#1732798079766456-852: Is no government per se at the township level in North Carolina, and there are no elected or appointed offices associated with townships. In 2015 Utah created a form of civil township called a metro township . While each metro township has a mayor and township council, and manage a budget, and cannot be annexed without its permission, its powers of taxation are limited, and must contract with other municipalities or municipal shared-service districts for most municipal services (police, for example). The five metro townships—all located in Salt Lake County —are Kearns , Magna , Copperton , Emigration Canyon and White City . As of 2012, there were 16,360 organized town or township governments in
494-471: Is similar, in that it is a form of municipal government equal in status to a village , town , borough , or city , and provides similar services to a Pennsylvania township, and varies in size from one-tenth ( Shrewsbury Twp. ) to one hundred ( Jackson Twp. ) square miles. In the Southern U.S. , outside cities and towns there is generally no local government other than the county. Arkansas townships are
532-538: Is subdivided into counties, which are subdivided into cities and towns—except for New York City , whose five coextensive counties for state government purposes are municipal boroughs for city government purposes ( Bronx County/The Bronx , Kings County/Brooklyn , New York County/Manhattan , Queens County/Queens , and Richmond County/Staten Island ). As in New England, the term "town" equates to "township" in most other states. Additionally, New Yorkers colloquially use
570-403: Is within one or more townships in an Arkansas county based on census maps and publications. North Carolina is no exception to that rule, but it does have townships as minor geographical subdivisions of counties, including both unincorporated territory and also land within the bounds of incorporated cities and towns (as well as the extraterritorial jurisdiction of municipalities). Every county
608-630: The Looking Glass River . The Michigan meridian forms the boundary between several counties in Michigan: Lenawee and Hillsdale ; Shiawassee and Clinton ; Saginaw and Gratiot ; Ogemaw and Roscommon ; Oscoda and Crawford ; Montmorency and Otsego ; and a portion of the boundary between Chippewa and Mackinac . U.S. Highway 127 approximately follows the meridian from the Ohio border into Jackson . In Okemos , there
646-648: The Mount Diablo Meridian , Meridian Road in Wichita, Kansas on the Sixth Principal Meridian, and Meridian Avenue in several western Washington counties generally following the Willamette Meridian. Baseline Road or Base Line Street extends for about 40 miles (64 km) from Highland, California east of San Bernardino to La Verne, California where it meets Foothill Boulevard. This cartography or mapping term article
684-666: The civil townships formed from these survey townships were given additional sections of land from adjacent townships, as for example, White Pigeon Township in St. Joseph County and Three Oaks Township and New Buffalo Township in Berrien County . Some others of these smaller townships were merged into adjoining townships, as in Porter Township in Cass County . Similarly, many of the civil townships in Michigan along
722-470: The maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island ) in 1749 in the form of townships controlled by a court of quarter sessions , a system that had characterized local government in Britain and Virginia. This court had both administrative and judicial functions, and took over most responsibilities of local government, including the appointment of necessary officers. A form of direct democracy
760-465: The Ohio border have somewhat more or less than the standard 36 square miles. 42°25′28″N 84°21′53″W / 42.42444°N 84.36472°W / 42.42444; -84.36472 Principal meridian The Dominion Land Survey of Western Canada took its origin at the First (or Principal) Meridian, located at 97°27′28.41″ west of Greenwich , just west of Winnipeg, Manitoba . This line
798-555: The area was considered to be a part of the Michigan Territory . A 10-mile-wide (16 km) strip of land was given to Indiana when it became a state in 1816. Since this land had not been surveyed, the Indiana portion was surveyed with the rest of Indiana. However, in Michigan, the southernmost tier of townships are truncated. The townships were surveyed and sections numbered as if they were in whole townships, except that
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#1732798079766836-580: The boundaries of a town that provide additional government services not provided by their parent town, such as sewage, fire, law enforcement, garbage collection, public facilities, water and building code enforcement. In Vermont, most current cities were actually former villages that broke off from their parent town. Connecticut has boroughs and non-consolidated cities, although these communities are not as autonomous as villages in New York and Vermont, and today there are only eight non-consolidated boroughs (plus
874-502: The city limits, property owners pay taxes for both the township and municipality, though these overlaps are sometimes overlooked by mistake. Ten other states also allow townships and municipalities to overlap. In Kansas , some civil townships provide services such as road maintenance and fire protection services not provided by the county. In New England and New York , states are generally subdivided into towns and cities, which are municipalities that provide most local services. With
912-431: The community of Groton Long Point ) and one non-consolidated city. A Pennsylvania township is a unit of local government, responsible for services such as police departments, local road and street maintenance . It acts the same as a city or borough . Townships were established based on convenient geographical boundaries and vary in size from six to fifty-two square miles (10–135 km ). A New Jersey township
950-840: The county government level in North Carolina as a way of determining and dividing up areas for administrative purposes; primarily for collecting county taxes, determining fire districts (e.g. Lebanon Township in Durham County gives its name to the Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department ), for real estate purposes such as categorizing land deeds, land surveys and other real estate documents, and for voter registration purposes. In most areas of North Carolina that are outside any municipal limit (outside cities or towns), townships are used to determine voter polling places, and in most instances county election boards divide up their voter precincts by township. However, there
988-650: The county. The townships in Illinois each have a township board, whose board members were formerly called township trustees , and a single township supervisor. In contrast, civil townships in Indiana are operated in a relatively consistent manner statewide and tend to be well organized, with each served by a single township trustee and a three-member board. Civil townships in these states are generally not incorporated , and nearby cities may annex land in adjoining townships with relative ease. In Michigan, however, general law townships are corporate entities (e.g. they can be
1026-463: The divisions of a county. Each township includes unincorporated areas; some may have incorporated cities or towns within part of their boundaries. Arkansas townships have limited purposes in modern times. However, the U.S. census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions"). Townships are also of value for historical purposes in terms of genealogical research. Each town or city
1064-417: The equivalent of the civil township in these states; Minnesota uses "town" officially but often uses it and "township" interchangeably. Specific responsibilities and the degree of autonomy vary in each state . Civil townships are distinct from survey townships , but in states that have both, the boundaries often coincide, especially in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, and may completely geographically subdivide
1102-579: The exception of a few remote areas of New Hampshire and Vermont and about half of Maine , all of New England lies within the borders of an incorporated municipality. New England has counties, though in southern New England, they are strictly used as dividing lines for judicial systems and statistical purposes, while in northern New England, they often handle other limited functions, such as law enforcement, education and some public facilities in addition to judicial systems. New England also has cities , most of which are towns whose residents have voted to replace
1140-411: The following 21 states: There were 29 states without organized town or township governments as of 2012: The provinces of Eastern Canada have, or have had, divisions that are analogous to the townships of the United States. Ontario and Quebec continue to have townships that subdivide their respective counties. Local government was introduced into Nova Scotia (which at the time also included
1178-472: The northern border of Wayne , Washtenaw and other counties, was surveyed at the same time by Alexander Holmes, and intended to be exactly 78 miles (125.53 km) north of Fort Defiance. Although regulations governing the U.S. Public Land Survey System would later specify that the baseline should be a true parallel of latitude , this was not the case in earlier surveys, including the Michigan survey. Some roadways were laid out for both survey lines, but there
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1216-411: The southernmost survey townships were only 6 by 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (9.7 km × 5.6 km) instead of the usual 6 by 6 miles (9.7 km × 9.7 km) square (36 sq mi or 93 km). Sections 19–24 in each township were chopped approximately in half, while sections 25–36 simply do not exist for these survey townships. To compensate for the smaller size, some of
1254-463: The subject of lawsuits), and some can become reformulated as charter townships , a status intended to protect against annexation from nearby municipalities and which grants the township some home rule powers similar to cities. In Wisconsin , civil townships are known as " towns " rather than townships, but they function essentially the same as in neighboring states. In Minnesota , state statute refers to such entities as towns yet requires them to have
1292-544: The term "township" to mean "town". Townships and hamlets are unincorporated areas within a town or towns. Because towns are administrative divisions of a county, town boundaries cannot cross county lines. In addition to administrative subdivisions, New York State also has cities . Cities in New York are fully autonomous municipal corporations and, thus, are able to cross county lines and whose governments fully independent of county control. Finally, New York and Vermont also have villages, which are smaller communities lying within
1330-463: The town meeting form of government with a city form. Maine has a third type of township called a plantation , which previously existed in other New England states, that has more limited self-governance than other New England towns. In portions of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, county subdivisions that are not incorporated are occasionally called townships, or by other terms such as " gore ", "grant", "location", or "purchase". The State of New York
1368-457: Was introduced into the townships by settlers from New England in 1760 with the help of a provincial statute. However, the statute was disallowed by the King in 1761, and direct democracy was replaced in the townships that had adopted it by the quarter sessions. Acts in 1855 and 1856 provided for the incorporation of self-governing townships, but only Yarmouth partook in incorporating, and abandoned
1406-606: Was no intersecting of roadways coinciding with the intersecting of survey lines. Several segments of the Michigan Meridian correspond with a road bearing its namesake Meridian Road . A section of Meridian Road exists in Meridian Township and runs through most of Ingham and Clinton counties, but is not fully continuous due to marshy areas (formerly the Chandler Marsh, since developed and managed) and
1444-644: Was selected because it formed one of the principal boundary lines defined in the Treaty of Detroit in 1807, which was the first large cession of land by Native American peoples to the United States in the Michigan Territory . In that treaty, the boundary line was described as running due north from the mouth of the Auglaize River on the Maumee River , which was the site of Fort Defiance (now Defiance, Ohio ). Michigan's baseline , which today forms
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