The first white pioneer to purchase land in the township was Jacob F. Cooley in 1837. The township was organized in 1842 in the northwest corner of Ingham County and was named after the hometown of one of the township's original settlers. The township experienced its first loss of land in 1859 when the unincorporated settlement of Lansing officially incorporated as a city out of seven square miles near the center of the township.
Township description
The cities of Lansing and East Lansing have incorporated much of the land that formerly constituted the township reducing the township from its original to its current in five disconnected land areas. The western section of the township is the largest, and it includes almost all of the township's industrial developments including the large General Motors Lansing Craft Center and General Motors Lansing Metal Center automobile factories, both of which were closed and shuttered in early 2006. A Superfund site, Adams Plating, is located in this part of the township. Also in the western part are the former Waverly Golf Course and the adjacent Michigan Avenue Park. Formerly owned and operated by the city of Lansing, Michigan Avenue Park included a sledding hill and Little League Baseball field. At the north end of this section of the township north of Saginaw Highway lies the residential neighborhood and CDP of Edgemont Park. The northeastern section of the township is heavily industrialized on its western end, but since 2002 this section has become the 'downtown' of Lansing Township with the construction of the Eastwood Towne Center, one of the largest shopping malls in Metropolitan Lansing, and the subsequent creation of the Lansing Township Downtown Development Authority to capture state and national funds for development. The central eastern sections of the township are almost exclusively residential, save for a small strip of land that runs along either side of US-127. The northern portion of these two sections contain the large Groesbeck neighborhood, and the smaller southern portion includes part of the Urbandale neighborhood. The southeastern section of the township is exclusively agricultural in nature, containing experimental farms for Michigan State University.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
There were 4,104 households, out of which 22.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.3% were married couplesliving together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.1% were non-families. 40.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.78. In the township the population was spread out, with 20.9% under the age of 18, 11.3% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males. The median income for a household in the township was $41,017, and the median income for a family was $50,632. Males had a median income of $37,124 versus $28,829 for females. The per capita income for the township was $22,885. About 5.2% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.2% of those under age 18 and 4.7% of those age 65 or over.
