Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan
township in Kalamazoo County, Michigan
Prairie Ronde Township is a civil township located in the southwestern corner of Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,369 at the 2020 census.
Prairie Ronde is the birthplace of the women's suffragist Olympia Brown.
Geography
The township is bordered by Van Buren County to the west, Cass County at the southwest corner, and St. Joseph County to the south. Kalamazoo, the county seat, is 18 miles (29 km) to the northeast.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 36.4 square miles (94.4 km2), of which 35.8 square miles (92.8 km2) are land and 0.62 square miles (1.6 km2), or 1.73%, are water.
There are no incorporated or unincorporated communities within the boundaries of the township. A village named Shirland, to be located on Section 25 (near the present-day Olde Mill Golf Course), was platted and recorded in 1831, but it never developed. The village of Schoolcraft is just to the east in Schoolcraft Township, and all of Prairie Ronde Township is served by the Schoolcraft ZIP code (49087).
“Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan” enters the record as township in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Prairie, Ronde and Township can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Prairie, Ronde and Township provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7237961. VIAF identifies the subject as 129398272. The Library of Congress control number is no2008148285. Authority coordinates are 42.109, -85.703. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 1831.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan primary sources, Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan archive and Prairie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.