thumb|right|250px|Main Street, Gregory

thumb|right|250px|Unadilla Township Fire Department, Gregory

Unadilla Township is a civil township in the southwest corner of Livingston County, Michigan, United States. The population was 3,333 at the 2020 census.

Communities

There are no incorporated municipalities in the township. There are a few unincorporated communities and historic locales.

  • Bullis Crossing is at Barton Road and M-36 ().
  • Gregory began as a station on a branch of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, which came through the farm of Halstead Gregory in 1884. He built a store near the depot and became the first postmaster in March 1884. The Township Hall is located at 126 Webb Street in Gregory.
  • Kaiserville is located on the west side of Patterson Lake at Kaiser Road and Woodside Drive ().
  • Plainfield was the nexus of many Indian trails and a favorite Indian camping ground. Jacob Dunn and Levi Clawson, both from Newton, New Jersey, were the first to purchase land here in 1835 and to then settle. Philip Dyer, also from New Jersey, joined them in 1836. Both Dunn and Dyer operated taverns. The community was at first known as "Dyersburg", but the name of the post office, "Plainfield", was chosen in April 1837 by Dunn, after Plainfield, New Jersey. The post office operated until October 1913.
  • Unadilla was at first known as "Milan". A post office was established in June 1834, but because Milan, Michigan, already had the name, the post office was called "Unadilla" after the township. But a plat had already been recorded for the "Village of Unadilla" in what is now Williamsville, so the plat was recorded as the Village of East Unadilla. This became known as simply "Unadilla" after the other village of Unadilla was abandoned. A survey for the plat was made on April 14, 1837, by Richard Peterson, Jr., but it was not recorded by the proprietors Robert Glenn and Thomas S. Gill until April 21, 1840.
  • Williamsville, situated northeast of Williamsville Lake, was at first platted as the Village of Unadilla on January 30, 1837, by Darwin N. Edson and the heirs of Curtis Noble. This plat for the east half of the east half of the southwest quarter of section 28 was vacated by an act of the state Legislature on March 25, 1846. The area later became known as Williamsville.

History

Unadilla was formed by an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan on March 26, 1835, and initially included what is now Iosco Township to the north and a portion of Lyndon township in Washtenaw County on the south. The first township meeting was held on the first Monday of April 1835. Since Livingston County government was not organized until 1836, the township was at first attached to Washtenaw County. On March 6, 1838, Iosco Township was set off and with the southern portion being assigned to Lyndon Township, Unadilla assumed its present boundaries.

The first land purchase in the township was recorded on June 20, 1833, by Eli Ruggles of Brookfield, Connecticut, while accompanied by his brother-in-law, Amos Williams, and Nathaniel Noble, an acquaintance who lived nearby in Dexter. After returning to Connecticut, Ruggles became ill and died. Williams returned to the land in the fall of 1833 with his son Samuel, son-in-law Gary Briggs, and Briggs' wife. The land purchase was recorded as the north half of the northwest quarter of section 33, which would have been , but in subsequent accounts was frequently described as . During that winter the Williams and family built a sawmill, which began operations in the spring of 1834.

Geography

Unadilla Township occupies the southwest corner of Livingston County, bordered to the west by Ingham County and to the south by Washtenaw and Jackson counties. Two state highways pass through the township. M-36 crosses the center of the township, leading east to Pinckney and northwest to Dansville. M-106 has its northeastern terminus at M-36 in Gregory and leads southwest to Jackson.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which are land and , or 2.67%, are water.

Lakelands Trail State Park passes through Unadilla Township.

Demographics

As of the census