A Rural Community Where Agriculture Runs Deep In Its Roots

Nearly two centuries ago, pioneers scouting what would become Albion Township discovered two key natural assets: rich, well-drained soil ideal for grain and fruit production and a river whose power could be harnessed to run mills and factories. When word of these resources reached people planning to move from the East, historians say, the area was quickly settled. Many early arrivals’ descendants remain in the township today, some on the land originally occupied.

Calhoun County was surveyed into townships in 1824 and subdivided into sections in 1825, according to H.B. Pierce’s History of Calhoun County, Michigan. But before Albion Township became an independent entity in 1837, according to Pierce, it was part of Homer Township, which had been organized in 1834 as a 12-mile square unit in the southeast corner of Calhoun County that also included present-day Eckford and Clarendon Townships.