# What's the difference between a town and a township? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2001, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-town-and-a-township/97057 "2001-12-05T17:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-town-and-a-township/97057/21 "2001-12-06T08:50:06Z")
Under Apartheid South Africa, **the townships** were those areas near the urban centres that were designated for non-white dwellings. They were overcrowded, poverty stricken and crime riddled (rather unsurprisingly). Thus in South African _parlance_ the word **township** still has connotations of danger and poverty, pretty much the same connotations others might have of the word “slum”. Gp ---
**Author:** ![the\_coffeehood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9dc877/32.png) [@the\_coffeehood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_coffeehood)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-town-and-a-township/97057/22 "2001-12-06T16:45:14Z")
> [@](#): > > An issue in Ohio that I’ve never figured out is that cities also function as townships in some way. I noticed on a county road map for Stark County that the city of Canton was labelled, in small letters the same font as other townships, “McKinley”. Likewise, Louisville is Constitution Township, Alliance is Butler Township. Let me emphasize that this is different from the township surrounding the city (in these respective cases Canton, Nimishillen, and Washington). [Here](http://www.louisvilleohio.com/Community/history.htm)’s a brief cite that unfortunately provides no further information. > > > [@](#): > > > > **The City of Louisville is now within Constitution Township and surrounded by Nimishillen Township** > > \*\* I found some information on this in the [Ohio Statues](http://onlinedocs.andersonpublishing.com/revisedcode/index3.cfm?GRDescription1=revised%20code&GRDescription2=title%205&GRDescription3=&TextField=%3CJD%3A%22503%22%3ECHAPTER%20503%3A%20GENERAL%20PROVISIONS&GRStructure1=503&GRStructure2=)\*\* > [@](#): > > When the limits of a municipal corporation do not comprise the whole of the township in which it is situated, or if by change of the limits of such corporation include territory lying in more than one township, the legislative authority of such municipal corporation, by a vote of the majority of the members of such legislative authority, may petition the board of county commissioners for a change of township lines in order to make them identical, in whole or in part, with the limits of the municipal corporation, or to erect a new township out of the portion of such township included within the limits of such municipal corporation. The board, on presentation of such petition, with the proceedings of the legislative authority authenticated, at a regular or adjourned session, shall upon the petition of a city change the boundaries of the township or erect such new township, and may upon the petition of a village change the boundaries of the township or erect such new township. \*\* This implies that even where there are cities, townships have some remaining functions distinct from those of cities, and therefore it is convenient for a city to be coextenxive with a township. I know from Illinois (where I also lived) that townships (which are unincorporated) remain even where there are “municipalities” incorporated cities, villages, or towns (which is an incorporated township), while in Michigan, an area incorporated in a city is not part of any township.) The functions of those townships include schools, assessing property values, various social services. For example, Evanston Township is coextensive with the City of Evanston, but they have separate governments, and New Trier Township is even more complex (See [New Trier Township Government](http://www.northstarnet.org/wnkhome/winnetka/newtrier.html) . Here’s an excerpt: > [@](#): > > \*\*New Trier Township is a unit of Illinois local government established in 1849 in accordance with constitutional and statutory requirements. The 17.32 square miles include the village of Glencoe, Kenilworth, Winnetka, and Wilmette, the eastern portions of Glenview and Northfield and approximately two square miles that are unincorporated. According to the 1990 Census, the population is 54,705. \*\*For more detailed information, the [Illinois General Statues](http://www.legis.state.il.us/ilcs/chapterlist.html) - especially Chapters 50,60, and 65 - can give much more detailed information on local government structure - [this page](http://www.legis.state.il.us/ilcs/ch60/ch60act1articles/ch60act1Sub4.htm) is specifically on townships within cities. In Cook County, there are 133 municipalities, as detailed on the [Municipalities in Cook County page](http://www.co.cook.il.us/secretary/HomePage_Links/municipalities_in_cook_county.htm). Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![the\_coffeehood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9dc877/32.png) [@the\_coffeehood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_coffeehood)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-town-and-a-township/97057/23 "2001-12-06T17:12:35Z")
I also discovered that Chicago contains 8 townships, including Rogers Park and Lakeview townships, and that property tax assessmants still are done by the townships as part of the county government – not by the City of Chicago. You can go to this [League of Women Voters](http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/ii7507209.html) page for additional information about Illinois townships and their functions from a campaign the LWV undertook to abolish them, due to their cumbersome and inequitable nature. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-town-and-a-township/97057/24 "2001-12-06T20:56:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*The 36 square mile township began with the 1787 Northwest Ordinance–but not immediately. The first surveyed section of the territories governed by the Northwest Ordinance was the Western Reserve of Ohio (being the land originally claimed by Connecticut on the far side of Pennsylvania that was _reserved_ for sale to indemnify Connecticut for its loss of land). When Moses Cleaveland (correct spelling) and his merry band of surveyors first set out from the Pennsylvania border, the townships they platted were 5 miles by 5 miles. When they got to the section of the Cuyahoga River that was running North, (it makes a large U), they knocked off for a while. When the next band of surveyors picked up the job, they were using 6 X 6 mile townships that continued through the Great Lakes surveys. > I have never discovered why the size of the unit was changed (and admit I have not looked very hard). \*\* Well, not quite. On May 18, 1796, Congress passed an act providing for the survey of the “territory northwest of the river Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river…by north and south lines run according to the true meridian, and by others crossing them at right angles, so as to form townships of six miles square…the sections shall be numbered respectively, beginning with the number one, in the northeast section, and proceeding west and east alternately, through the township with progressive numbers, till the thirty-sixth be completed.” However, on June 1, 1796, an act was passed by Congress providing for diving the “United States military tract” in Ohio into townships five miles square, each to be subdivided into quarter townships containing 4,000 acres. [From \*A Treatise on the Law of Surveying and Boundaries \* by John S. Grimes, Esq.] So, the military tract was not governed by the act concerning the northwest territories. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-town-and-a-township/97057/25 "2001-12-06T22:02:50Z")
> [@](#): > > So, the military tract was not governed by the act concerning the northwest territories. True, but the military tract, (acording to [this map](http://www.ohiokids.org/ohc/nature/geograph/using/landgrants.html) and [this map](http://www.auditor.state.oh.us/along_the_ohio_trail/regional_fact_sheet/east_central.htm), appears to have had its Northeast corner around Coshocton or Newcomerstown and had no direct bearing on the Western Reserve to the North and separated from the Military Tract by one of the Congress Lands–half of which was surveyed at 5 x 5 and half at 6 x 6. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-town-and-a-township/97057/26 "2001-12-06T22:28:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*\* > While we’re doing this stuff, though, does anyone familiar with Pennsylvania know what a _borough_ is defined as in that state. I notice villages, boroughs, and cities, apparently in that ascending order of size, as I drive through. But what’s the dividing line (if there is any)? What can a borough do that a village can’t? Why the tripartite division? \*\* Here’s a good breakdown. [http://www.centredaily.com/guide/content/mungovt.htm](http://www.centredaily.com/guide/content/mungovt.htm) State College (a borough)–home of Penn State’s main campus–is a good example. While I was there (left 5 years ago) a continuous local debate was whether or not the Borough of State College should merge with College Township and one other small adjacent locality whose name escapes me. The increase in population would make the new entity into a third-class City, IIRC, which has different taxation rules than a borough and therefore could dramatically alter the way the local govt. makes its money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-difference-between-a-town-and-a-township/97057.md?page=1)