Mississinawa Township is one of the twenty 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 Darke County

Darke County, Ohio

As of the census of 2000, there were 53,309 people, 20,419 households, and 14,905 families residing in the county. The population density was 89 people per square mile . There were 21,583 housing units at an average density of 36 per square mile...

, 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 779 people in the township.

Geography

Located in the northwestern corner of the county, it borders the following townships:

• Gibson Township, Mercer County
  Gibson Township, Mercer County, Ohio
  Gibson Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,869 people in the township, 997 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - north
• Allen Township
  Allen Township, Darke County, Ohio
  Allen Township is one of the twenty townships of Darke County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,158 people in the township, 725 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - east
• Jackson Township
  Jackson Township, Darke County, Ohio
  Jackson Township is one of the twenty townships of Darke County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,057 people in the township, 1,290 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
  
   - south
• Jackson Township, Randolph County, Indiana
  Jackson Township, Randolph County, Indiana
  Jackson Township is one of eleven townships in Randolph County, Indiana, USA.-External links:* *...
  
   - southwest
• Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana
  Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana
  Madison Township is one of twelve townships in Jay County, Indiana, USA. As of the 2000 census, its population was 608.-Geography:Madison Township covers an area of ; of this, or 0.05 percent is water. The streams of Mad Run, Madison Creek, Speed Run and Walnut Creek run through this...
  
   - northwest

No municipalities are located in Mississinawa Township.

Name and history

It is the only Mississinawa Township statewide.

The first settler within the bounds of today's Mississinawa Township was Philip Reprogle, who arrived in 1833. Six years passed before the township's establishment in March of 1839; it was created from a part of Jackson Township

Jackson Township, Darke County, Ohio

Jackson Township is one of the twenty townships of Darke County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 3,057 people in the township, 1,290 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...

. Its borders were later extended northward to include part of Gibson Township

Gibson Township, Mercer County, Ohio

Gibson Township is one of the fourteen townships of Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,869 people in the township, 997 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...

 when the rest of that township became part of Mercer County

Mercer County, Ohio

Mercer County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. Its county seat is Celina and is named for Hugh Mercer, an officer in the American Revolutionary War.The Celina Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Mercer County.-Geography:...

. The first church in the township was a Methodist

Methodist Episcopal Church

The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...

congregation that was established in 1851, while the township's first school was founded at an unknown date.

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. The current trustees are Roger Fortkamp, Edward Rauh, and Robert Stump, and the clerk is Sharon Fortkamp.