Portage (Michigan)

Kalamazoo County

26-65560

Portage is a city in Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan with about 45,000 inhabitants. It lies on the southern border of Kalamazoo and was formed on December 31, 1963 from the territory of the former Portage Township.

Overview

Portage has the Portage Central High School Portage Northern High School and the two public high schools. The pharmaceutical company Pfizer operates several local companies and has energized by laying off employees in recent years, public attention and controversy.

Portage has an extensive network of historic parks and trails that are available for hiking, biking and in the case of waterways for canoeing and other recreational activities. Since the creation of the Portage Bikeway system in 1989, the length of the routes has grown to more than 80 km in length, more than five times as long as all the highways of the city together. In Portage is also home to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city area is 90.7 km ², 8 % of which are water surfaces.

The Lake Austin Lake occupies the southwestern part of the city. He was named after Moses Austin, the Genesee County in the state of New York had emigrated to the Portage Township in 1833. On the north shore of the lake, a settlement which was known as Austin or Lake Austin developed. On 18 May 1850 the post office with the name " Austin 's Lake " was founded, which was operated under Moses Austin until August 15, 1853. Here in 1867, there was a station on the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad.

Population

At the 2000 census, 44 897 inhabitants, 18,138 households, and 12,134 families residing in the city were counted. 90.75 % of the population were White, 3.73% African American and 2.64 % Asian, the respective shares of the remaining races census was below 2 %.

The per capita income was 25 414 U.S. dollars. 4.8% of the population lived below the poverty line.