About Belknap Township

Belknap Township is a unit of local government that is located in Presque Isle County. It is a subdivision or rather a local division of Presque Isle County. Your Township Board’s regularly scheduled meetings are held on the fourth Monday of each month. The meetings are held at the Township Hall at 1720 W. 638 Hwy and start at 7:00 pm during the daylight saving months and 5:30 pm during the non-daylight savings months. Residents are encouraged to attend. Belknap Township is a civil township of Presque Isle County in the U.S. state of Michigan.   

Map of Township
Area: 35.79 mi² Elevation: 774′

Belknap Township Statistics
1990 Population: 920
2000 Population: 854
2010 Population: 751

Belknap Township Voters
July 2009: 557
December 2009: 552
October 2010: 561
October 2011: 556
October 2013: 570
October 2014: 569  

Voter Turnout
November, 2010: 273 (49%)
November, 2012: 384 (66%)
November, 2014: 264 (46.4%)

Belknap Township - Parcel Count
12/31/08: 691 Parcels
12/31/09: 692 Parcels
12/31/10: 693 Parcels
12/31/11: 697 Parcels
12/31/12: 703 Parcels
12/31/13: 709 Parcels
12/31/14: 698 Parcels

Belknap Township - Assessments
2005 Assessment: 30,216,900
2006 Assessment: 32,250,600
2007 Assessment: 33,854,000
2008 Assessment: 34,157,200
2009 Assessment: 33,416,400
2010 Assessment: 31,957,200
2011 Assessment: 30,116,500
2012 Assessment: 27,924,400
2013 Assessment: 28,060,840
2014 Assessment: 28,527,200
2015 Assessment: 28,681,400

Early History of Belknap Township
Prior to 1875, there were only two townships in Presque Isle County, Presque Isle, and Rogers. On April 9, 1875, the Michigan Legislature enacted Public Act No. 80 of 1875, creating five townships in the county: Rogers, Presque Isle, Moltke, Posen, and Belknap. The first Supervisor of Belknap Township was John McArthur. There is no information available on how the names of the new townships were chosen. The five townships created in 1875 were much larger than the standard township sizes used throughout the Northwest Territories, which were six miles by six miles, or thirty-six square miles. As the population of the county grew, most of the large townships were eventually divided and Metz Township was split off from Belknap Township in 1879. The populations of the townships surrounding the Village of Rogers, now Rogers City, grew much more rapidly than that of Rogers, the county seat. In 1880, for example, the population of Rogers was only 325, while Moltke Township had a population of 490, Belknap had 620, and Posen had 858. The rapid growth of the townships around Rogers can be attributed to the fact that most of the settlers coming into the county were farmers. The three townships mentioned contained a great deal of quality farmland and, at the same time, were in close proximity to the Rogers, the center of commerce for the region. The earliest homesteaders in Belknap Township included Samuel Blake, Julius Bredlow, Michael Elowski, William Meredith, and Friedrich Pieper, who arrived in 1870. The following year, they were joined by August Barabas, Wilhelm Buller, August Elowski, August Fuhrmann, Jacob Geddert, Albert Grulke, Gottlieb Hasenburg, William Hardies, Henry Mahrtens, John McArthur, and Horatio Pemberton. Descendents of many of those early settlers still resides in the township and the surrounding area.