Portage Township is one of the twelve townships

Civil township

A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States, subordinate to, and geographic divisions of, a county. Specific responsibilities and the degree of autonomy vary based on each state. Civil townships are distinct from survey townships, but in states that have both,...

 of Ottawa County

Ottawa County, Ohio

Ottawa County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,428. Its county seat is Port Clinton and is named either for the Ottawa Indians who lived there, or for an Indian word meaning "trader"....

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

 found 1,634 people in the unincorporated portions of the township.

Geography

Located in the eastern part of the county on the Marblehead Peninsula, it borders the following townships:

• Put-in-Bay Township
  Put-in-Bay Township, Ottawa County, Ohio
  Put-in-Bay Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 763 people in the township, 635 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Islands:...
  
   - north, across Lake Erie
  Lake Erie
  Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
  
  
• Catawba Island Township
  Catawba Island Township, Ottawa County, Ohio
  Catawba Island Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,157 people in the township...
  
   - northeast
• Danbury Township
  Danbury Township, Ottawa County, Ohio
  Danbury Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 4,631 people in the township, 3,869 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - east
• Margaretta Township, Erie County
  Margaretta Township, Erie County, Ohio
  Margaretta Township is one of the nine townships of Erie County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Sandusky, Ohio metropolitan statistical area...
  
   - south, across Sandusky Bay
  Sandusky Bay
  Sandusky Bay is a body of water situated in between Erie, Ottawa, and Sandusky counties in the U.S. state of Ohio and just to the south of Lake Erie. Sandusky Bay runs from Muddy Creek Bay to Cedar Point, which is part of Sandusky....
  
  
• Riley Township, Sandusky County
  Riley Township, Sandusky County, Ohio
  Riley Township is one of the twelve townships of Sandusky County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2000 census, 1,302 people lived in the township.-Geography:...
  
   - southwest corner, across Sandusky Bay
• Bay Township
  Bay Township, Ottawa County, Ohio
  Bay Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,294 people in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - west
• Erie Township
  Erie Township, Ottawa County, Ohio
  Erie Township is one of the twelve townships of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,328 people in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - northwest

Most of the city of Port Clinton

Port Clinton, Ohio

Port Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,056 at the 2010 census. The city has been nicknamed the "Walleye Capital of the World."...

, the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Ottawa County, is located in the northwestern part of the township, and the unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 of Gypsum

Gypsum, Ohio

Gypsum is an unincorporated community in eastern Portage Township, Ottawa County, Ohio, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 43433....

 lies in the township's east.

Name and history

Statewide, other Portage Townships are located in Hancock

Portage Township, Hancock County, Ohio

Portage Township is one of the seventeen townships of Hancock County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 604 people in the township.-Geography:Located in the northern part of the county, it borders the following townships:...

 and Wood

Portage Township, Wood County, Ohio

Portage Township is one of the nineteen townships of Wood County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,516 people in the township, 988 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...

Counties.

Government

The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township fiscal officer, who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. Vacancies in the fiscal officership or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.