The city ofMcBain is at the southwest of the township and incorporates land in sections 19 and 30. The McBain post office with ZIP code 49657 also serves most of Riverside Township.
Forward was the name of a rural post office in the eastern part of Riverside Township at at the junction of Forward Road and Meyering Road and operated from October 10, 1903 until January 15, 1908. Joseph Nederhoed was the first postmaster.
Galt was the name of a post office and settlement in the township. William McBain was the first postmaster when the office was established on June 23, 1874. The office closed on January 20, 1879, re-opened on March 28, 1879, and was discontinued on September 15, 1908. Locally it was known as "Galt Farms."
Riverside Township also occupies a very small mobile home community along Blue Spruce Lane at. It is an exclave completely surrounded by the city of McBain and separated from the rest of the township. It is also outside of the township's normal square shape to the west of M-66.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of, of which is land and is water. The Clam River runs through the northeast corner of the township.
Highway
runs through the southwest portion of the township and also forms the western border north of the city of McBain.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,050 people, 320 households, and 263 families residing in the township. The population density was 29.5 per square mile. There were 409 housing units at an average density of 11.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the township was 96.00% White, 1.24% African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.86% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.19% of the population. There were 320 households out of which 40.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 72.2% were married couplesliving together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.8% were non-families. 14.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the average family size was 3.27. In the township the population was spread out with 27.4% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 18.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.9 males. The median income for a household in the township was $37,857, and the median income for a family was $39,732. Males had a median income of $29,338 versus $23,906 for females. The per capita income for the township was $16,167. About 7.3% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.8% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.
