Civil Township - Northeastern States

Northeastern States

See also: New England town and Political subdivisions of New York

In New England and New York, counties are further subdivided into towns and cities, the principal forms of local government. These states use the term town, instead of township. The settlement patterns of these towns are more like civil townships than "towns" as that term is generally understood in most of the United States. New England towns are incorporated municipalities; New York towns are not. Some residents of these states do not generally recognize the word "township" as applying to their local governments, although the U.S. Census Bureau treats them identically. (Even though towns in New England are legally equal to cities in status, the Census is more concerned with patterns of settlement and development than the means of government; New England and New York towns are similar to townships in the northern Midwest in typically having one or more small built-up central districts surrounded by a much larger area of less intensive development. However, cities in New England may have this development pattern as well.) In sparsely settled portions of New Hampshire, Vermont and, especially, Maine, county subdivisions that are not incorporated are occasionally referred to as townships, or by other terms such as 'gore,' 'grant,' 'location,' 'plantation', or 'purchase.'