New Buffalo Township, Michigan
| New Buffalo Township, Michigan | |
|---|---|
| Township | |
 New Buffalo Township
|
|
| Coordinates: 41°47′18″N 86°45′23″W / 41.78833°N 86.75639°WCoordinates: 41°47′18″N 86°45′23″W / 41.78833°N 86.75639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Michigan |
| County | Berrien |
| Area | |
| • Total | 20.3 sq mi (52.5 km2) |
| • Land | 20.0 sq mi (51.8 km2) |
| • Water | 0.2 sq mi (0.6 km2) |
| Elevation | 653 ft (199 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 2,386 |
| • Density | 119/sq mi (46.0/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 49117 |
| Area code(s) | 269 |
| FIPS code | 26-57230 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1626799 |
| Website | newbuffalotownship |
New Buffalo Township is a civil township of Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 2,386. It is the southwesternmost township on the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.
When Berrien County was first established in 1831, New Buffalo was a part of Berrien Township. New Buffalo Township was established by an act of the state legislature on March 12, 1836. Five days later, the village of New Buffalo was incorporated. The township originally included what are now Three Oaks Township and Chikaming Township. Three Oaks and Chikaming were set apart in 1856.
The township is part of a region sometimes referred to as Harbor Country.
At the time of the arrival of the first Europeans to the area, French explorer Father Jacques Marquette in 1675 reported seeing the Miami people in his travels down the nearby St. Joseph River. Four years later, the exploration party of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, reported that the Miami were being displaced by the Potawatomi.
In 1834, one of the first permanent white settlers to the area, Captain Wessell Whittaker, ran his schooner Post Boy aground near what is now the village of Grand Beach. The captain and crew found shelter a bit south of there at the present-day Michigan City, Indiana. While traveling north to St. Joseph to report the ship's loss to its underwriters, Whittacker was so struck by the beauty of the area and the natural harbor that he filed claim to a large tract of land around the mouth of the Galien River. Whittacker named it after his hometown of Buffalo, New York.
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