South Bend Township is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Blue Earth County Blue Earth County is a county in the state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 69,112. Its county seat is Mankato. The county is named for the Blue Earth River and for the deposits of blue-green clay once evident along the ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, United States. The population was 1,682 as of the 2010 census.

History

South Bend Township was organized in 1858, and named from a meander in the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It rises in southwestern ...

Geography

Public Land Survey System (PLSS) of the United States
Township 108 North, Range 27 West, Fifth Meridian, 23,092 Acres. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the township has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.62%, is water. The

forms the township's northern border, and one of its tributaries, the

Blue Earth River The Blue Earth River () is a tributary of the Minnesota River, long, in southern Minnesota in the United States. Two of its headwaters tributaries, the Middle Branch Blue Earth River and the West Branch Blue Earth River, also flow for short di ...

, forms the eastern boundary. South Bend is bordered by Judson Township on the west side, Rapidan Township on the south side, and Mankato Township on the east side (separated by the Blue Earth River). In the late 1800s the portion of South Bend Township east of the Blue Earth River was designated as part of Mankato Township.

Local government

South Bend Township has a governing Board of Supervisors. There are five Supervisors, elected at-large by the electorate of the township, each serving a three-year term. The Board appoints a Township Clerk who also serves as Township Treasurer. The township is the only township of the 23 Blue Earth County townships to support its own volunteer fire department. A portion of the township is served by township sanitary sewer and potable water. The west half of the city of

Skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...

is within this township geographically but is a separate entity.

Unincorporated community

* LeHillier at

Major highways

U.S. Highway 169 U.S. Route 169 (US 169) is a north-south U.S highway that currently runs for 966 miles (1,555 km) from the city of Virginia, Minnesota, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, at Memorial Drive. Route description Oklahoma US 169 is a major north–sou ...

Minnesota State Highway 60 Trunk Highway 60 (MN 60) is a highway in southern Minnesota, which runs from Iowa Highway 60 at the Iowa state line (at Bigelow) and continues east-northeast to its eastern terminus at the Wisconsin state line (at Wabasha), where the ro ...

* Minnesota State Highway 66 *

Minnesota State Highway 68 Minnesota State Highway 68 (MN 68) is a highway in southwest and south-central Minnesota, which runs from South Dakota Highway 22 at the South Dakota state line near Canby, and continues east to its eastern terminus at its intersection w ...

Lake

* Rush Lake (eastern half)

Adjacent townships

* Belgrade Township, Nicollet County (north) * Mankato Township (east) * Rapidan Township (south) * Garden City Township (southwest) * Judson Township (west) * Nicollet Township, Nicollet County (northwest)

Cemetery

The township contain
Minneopa Cemetery

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,491 people, 527 households, and 359 families residing in the township. The population density was . There were 559 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the township was 97.32%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.13%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.27%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, 0.47% Asian, 1.14% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), ...

, and 0.67% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.62% of the population. There were 527 households, out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.7% were non-families. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.04. In the township the population was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.3 males. The median income for a household in the township was $42,083, and the median income for a family was $46,719. Males had a median income of $33,889 versus $23,239 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the township was $18,038. About 5.5% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over.

References

United States National Atlas

United States Board on Geographic Names (GNIS)
{{authority control Townships in Blue Earth County, Minnesota Mankato – North Mankato metropolitan area Townships in Minnesota