Established in 1837, Ira Township has been a strong, growing community since its birth.

Our Township Board consists of

Ira Township has a population of approximately 7,000 people in an area covering 18 square miles. Two towns are included in the Township; Anchorville and Fair Haven. The area called Anchorville is so named because in the 1850's and 1860's large sailing ships used to anchor here to wait out big storms on Lakes Erie and Huron.

The Heritage of Ira – A Sesquicentennial History published in 1990


provides a written history of our beautiful Anchor Bay area.
Copies of the book are available at our Ira Township Library.

The American Water Works Association Award

Ira Township was recently recognized at the American Waterworks Association conference in Michigan f or creating the first system in the State to monitor source-water intake for contaminants. The Township started working on the project in the fall of 2006.

The program analyzes the area’s water shed and looks at the Township’s zoning, planning, building and drainage to avoid contaminants and pollution from flowing into Lake St. Clair and eventually the water plant.

This is the first water-intake protection plan ever written and approved by the State of Michigan. The plaque above - commemorating this achievement - hangs proudly in our main lobby.
 

Students in our Township are served by three school districts: Our Township is the location that surrounds Anchor Bay, which is part of Lake St. Clair. The Lake connects two of the Great Lakes; Huron and Erie. In the summer the Bay is a major attraction for boating, jet skiing, swimming and fishing. It is very common to see swans, ducks, geese and various types of wildlife living in their natural habitat. During the winter months the Bay freezes solid, making it an excellent area for ice skating, snowmobiling and, of course, ice fishing.

Not only does Ira have the beautiful water but we have farmlands and open country, too!