Official Name: | Calumet Township |
Settlement Type: | Township |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | United States |
Subdivision Type1: | State |
Subdivision Name1: | Indiana |
Subdivision Type2: | County |
Subdivision Name2: | Lake |
Government Type: | Indiana township |
Established Title: | founded |
Established Date: | 1883 |
Area Total Sq Mi: | 68.71 |
Area Land Sq Mi: | 61.38 |
Area Water Sq Mi: | 7.32 |
Population As Of: | 2020 |
Population Footnotes: | [1] |
Population Total: | 91970 |
Population Density Sq Mi: | 1698.4 |
Elevation Footnotes: | [2] |
Elevation M: | 184 |
Elevation Ft: | 604 |
Coordinates: | 41.5853°N -87.3542°W |
Blank Name: | FIPS code |
Blank Info: | 18-09820[3] |
Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
Blank1 Info: | 453154 |
Calumet Township is one of eleven townships in Lake County, Indiana. As of the 2020 census, its population was 91,970, containing 47,425 housing units, down from 104,258 at 2010.[4]
The Lake County commissioners established Calumet Township in 1883 from a six-mile-wide strip of North Township.[5] The five-mile-wide strip to the east became part of Hobart Township, and the five-mile-wide strip to the west remained North Township.[5] The commissioners also assigned a row of sections formerly in Ross Township to Calumet Township, including the community of Ross itself.[5]
In 1922, following a protracted dispute over road funding, the county commissioners transferred Miller Beach, which had formerly been in Hobart Township, to Calumet Township.[6] The transfer had originally been sought by the independent Town of Miller in 1914, before the City of Gary had annexed it.[7]
In 2022, following a long legal and political dispute, the passage of a ballot measure in Griffith and the passage of state legislation requiring North Township to accept it, the town of Griffith was transferred out of Calumet Township and into North Township.
According to the 2010 census, the township has a total area of, of which (or 89.33%) is land and (or 10.65%) is water.[4]
Calumet Township contains both incorporated and unincorporated areas.[8] The township's sole present-day incorporated community is Gary. A number of former Calumet Township communities have been absorbed into Gary, including the formerly incorporated towns of Aetna, Miller Beach, and Tolleston, and the formerly unincorporated community of Black Oak. The unincorporated community of Ross remains in unincorporated Calumet Township.
Until 2022, a large part of the town of Griffith was in Calumet Township, but all parts of Griffith that had been part of Calumet Township transferred to North Township on January 1, 2022.[9]
Calumet Township is served by two public school districts. Most of Incorporated Gary is served by the Gary Community School Corporation. Unincorporated areas of Gary in Calumet Township are served by the Lake Ridge Schools Corporation.