Kawkawlin Township, north of the river

Kawkawlin Township is in the north of Bay County, about 8.8 miles from the middle of Bay City and 6.3 from the middle of Monitor Township in a straight line, by the 2025 Census Gazetteer centre points. The Gazetteer gives it 32.4 square miles of land and 9.0 of water. The Kawkawlin River runs along its southern edge before reaching Saginaw Bay, and, as summaries of the local history point out, the small community called Kawkawlin actually sits just south of the river, in Monitor Township, not in this one. The township itself was carved out of the north of Bangor Township in 1868, according to Bangor Township's history page, read through a search summary. The April 2020 Census base counts 4,419 people and the July 2025 estimate is 4,349, a drop of about 1.6 percent.

Farmhouses and 1970s ranches

The 2020 to 2024 Census survey counts 2,093 homes, with a median build year of 1973. The 1970s were the busiest decade, with 493 homes, nearly one in four, but the stock has an old layer too: 380 homes, 18.2 percent, were built in 1939 or earlier, and 319 more in the 1950s. In all 1,412, 67.5 percent, predate 1980, while 198 date from 2000 or later. Single detached houses make up 87.9 percent of the stock, with 160 mobile homes. Owners live in 1,626 of the 1,931 occupied homes, 84.2 percent, and the median owner occupied value is 188,800 dollars.

So there are two kinds of basement to think about. The pre war farmhouses often have stone or early block walls and a floor that was never meant to stay dry, and water in them usually comes through the wall or up at the joint. The 1970s houses mostly have block or poured walls over a footing drain to a sump, and when they get wet the pump, a silted drain or a discharge line emptying beside the wall is the usual cause. A crack repair fixes one leak in a poured wall; it does not help a wall that takes water all along the bottom.

The river and the drains

The land here is the flat old lake plain that runs all around the bay, drained by county drains toward the Kawkawlin River. The Bay County Drain Commissioner publishes a drain map for the township and an outfall map for the river. When the river and the bay are high, as Bangor Township residents along the same river were warned in a local news report, backwater can slow the drains, and lots that already pond take longer to clear. If your yard holds water for days, ask the Bay County drain office which drain serves your parcel.

Permits

Kawkawlin Township has its own building inspector. Its permit application, revised 30 June 2025 and read through a search summary, tells applicants to check with the Bay County Drain Office's Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control division whether an earth change permit is also needed. The hall is at 1836 E. Parish Road, Kawkawlin, on (989) 686-8710. Call before any digging outside the foundation and ask which permits apply.

Nearby

Bangor Township, which Kawkawlin was split from, lies to the south east along the bay, and Bay City is beyond it.