Frederic Township is a civil township of Crawford County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,161 at the 2020 census.

Communities

  • Deward is an uninhabited unincorporated community within the township at . Deward was named after lumbering magnate David Ward, whose heirs starting the community when they built a mill in 1901 to exploit that area's vast lumber resources. A post office opened on June 3, 1901. The mill operated until 1912, and by 1932, the community was deserted and the post office closed.
  • Frederic is an unincorporated community in the northeast part of the township on the middle branch of the Au Sable River at . The Frederic 49733 ZIP Code serves a very large portion of the surrounding areas. Frederic was settled as a village around 1874 as a stop along the Michigan Central Railroad. It was originally called Forest, as it was part of Maple Forest Township. A post office was first established under the name Fredericville on December 17, 1877. The name was shortened to Frederic on August 4, 1886.
  • Ishaward is an unincorporated community within the northwestern portion of the township at .

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which is land and (0.86%) is water.

Frederic Township is in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and occupies the northwest corner of Crawford County, bordered by Otsego County to the north and Kalkaska County to the west. The Au Sable River flows southwards through the eastern part of the township, towards Grayling, while the Manistee River flows southwards through the western part of the township, then veers towards the southwest.

Hartwick Pines State Park and the Huron portion of the Huron-Manistee National Forests are nearby.

Major highways

  • (passes north–south just east of Frederic Township)

Demographics

As of the census

  • Forbush Corners in Frederic is a world-recognized center for education and training in cross country skiing, and benefits from early and late snow due to a "snow belt micro climate". Accomplished amateur ski racer David Forbush designed, maintains and grooms "one of the finest privately owned systems in the Midwest."

Notes

Sources

  • Frederic Township official website
  • Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University, Bibliography on Crawford County