FUN FACTS
- Our township was incorporated on October 13, 1859.
- We are a GENERAL township, not a Charter township.
- According to the 2020 US Census, we have a "homesteaded" population of 1,065 persons, up from 957 as counted in the 2010 Census. To our knowledge, no one has ever tried to officially estimate what CLT's population is during the height of the summer season.
- CLT has approximately, give-or-take, 1800 taxable parcels. (This figure varies from year to year as some parcels are combined, others are split.)
- The township is zoned, and zoning is effected by its inclusion to an "overlay" called the Crystal Lake Watershed District.
- The township has a total area of 17.1 square miles (44.2 km2), of which 12.5 square miles (32.5 km2) is land and 4.5 square miles (11.7 km2), or 26.48%, is water.
- We are named for the 15.44 square mile inland lake, the Crystal Lake shoreline being encompassed and governed by not only our own township but Lake and Benzonia Townships, as well as the Village of Beulah. The City of Frankfort owns the small south-shore parcel known as Bellows Park or often commonly referred to as the Seventh Street Beach.
- CLT hosts approximately 2 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, stretching between the boundaries of City of Frankfort and Lake Township.
- The Betsie River is a 54.0-mile-long (86.9 km) stream flowing through three counties and, after traveling several miles through our township, widens to form Betsie Lake before emptying into Lake Michigan between Frankfort and Elberta. The Betsie River is a part of Michigan's Natural Rivers Program.
- There are at least two other Crystal Lakes in the state, but we are the largest lake of this name in Michigan measuring approximately 2.5 by 8 miles (4 by 13 km), with a maximum depth of 165 feet (50 m) and 9,854 acres (40 km2) of surface area. It is Michigan's ninth largest inland lake. Up to and through the American Civil War years Crystal Lake was known as "Cap Lake" due to the frequent whitecaps visible on its surface.
- We often get calls from citizens trying to reach one of the two "Crystal" townships in Michigan, either the one in Montcalm County, or the one in Oceana County. More often we get communications meant for Crystal Lake Township in Illinois.
