thumb|right|250px|[[M-125 (Michigan highway)|Dixie Highway facing north toward Manhattan Street in the community of Erie]]
Erie Township is a civil township of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,299 at the 2020 census. When a post office was established in 1827, it was given the name of "Bay Settlement". The township's name was changed to Erie in 1835. Bedford Township and La Salle Township were broken off from Erie Township and established in 1836. In the same year, the Toledo Strip portion of Erie Township was given to the state of Ohio. Luna Pier, which occupied the northeast portion of the township, incorporated as a city in 1963, separating it from the township.
The last boundary change within Erie Township came in 1973 when the Supreme Court of the United States intervened on a border dispute involving the small and uninhabited Turtle Island, offshore in Lake Erie. The island was divided in half, with one side given to Erie Township. The other side of the island, which contains the abandoned Turtle Island Light, was given to Ohio.
Communities
- Alexis is a former settlement beginning in 1878 that was at a junction of two railway lines heading south from Detroit. The site was also known as Detroit Junction.
- Erie is an unincorporated community located in the northwest portion of the township at . As one of the county's oldest communities, Erie was first settled as early as 1790 by settlers from the north in Frenchtown. It was given a post office named "Bay Settlement" on April 18, 1827. The name was changed to "Erie" after the township on March 5, 1835, and remains in operation.
- Havre is a former settlement located about north of the state border on the north shores of Maumee Bay. A post office operated very briefly here for about five months from June 19 until December 15, 1837.
- Vienna is a historic locale located at . Founded in 1882, it served as a branch on the Michigan Central Railroad in 1882.
- Vistula was a settlement located within the former boundaries of the township. A land company bought and platted the community in 1832, and the territory built a roadway here. A post office in Vistula was established on January 8, 1834, and operated very briefly until it was closed on January 9, 1835, during the onset of the Toledo War. When the border dispute was resolved by 1836, the area of Vistula was transferred to the state of Ohio. The only remnants of the former settlement are included in the Vistula Historic District in Toledo.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which are land and , or 19.32%, are water.
As of the census
Notable people
- Elroy M. Avery, historian, author, and politician; born in Erie Township