Information: Established March 6, 1838. Land area is 35.7 square miles; Water .2 square miles Population 1,132 (2020) History: In 1838, the township, which was originally organized as a part of the township of Homer, organized as a separate township under the name of Clarendon; this name was likely accepted due to the fact that many of its settlers were from the town of Clarendon, Orleans county, New York.    The first settlers surely were delighted by the beauty of the country they came into, and the fears they may have possessed due to the poor quality of the soil were quickly dispelled on arriving at their destination. Anthony Doolittle first settled in the township in May, 1832, in company with Deacon Henry Cook. These two men purchased 480 acres of land at 50% of government price, paying $1.87 per acre. Doolittle settled Section 1, on "Cook's Prairie," as it was afterwards called, a name it has since retained. In 1838, the first town meeting took place, which established Aaron B. Bartlett as chairman and Timothy Hamlin, clerk. Truman Rathburn Hayes was elected supervisor; Timothy Hamlin, township clerk; Horace B. Hayes, John Main and Ira Sumner, assessors; Charles B. White, collector; Samuel Blair and Cornelius Putnam, directors of the poor; Alonzo H. Rogers, George W. Hayes, and Elijah Andrus, commissioners of highways; John Main, Ira Sumner and Horace B. Hayes, school inspectors; Truman Rathburn, William Cooper, John Main and Ira Sumner, justices of the peace. Many organizations began to bloom in the township. The first school in the township was established in Cook's Prairie in 1833. The first religious society was organized by Presbyterians in 1838; meetings were held in school houses until a log church was built on the southeast quarter of Section 18, which was used for several years. The Methodists organized in 1840 and held services in a log house built by Lewis Benham. A frame church was built soon after. As the Civil War approached the nation, the young men of Clarendon nobly responded to the call of their country, leaving a record of participants; a fact, of which, the township will always be proud. The air-line division of the Michigan Central railway was opened for travel in the fall of 1870, and a station established two miles north of Clarendon Centre. Thus, transportation for stock, grain, and other products was made available to the inhabitants, who were, by means of the railway, brought into direct communication with the great markets both east and west. The township subscribed $10,000 aid to the railway in 1869, the vote on the question standing one hundred and ten for the subscription and ninety-six against it. This was at the second meeting held for the stated purpose– the project having been defeated at the first meeting. Since the road had been completed, and the iron horse thundered over the rails with loads of precious freight behind him, the people were not sorry they made the investment. Clarendon was a station on the Air Line Michigan  Railroad of the Michigan Central Railroad, beginning approximately in 1870. The post office at Clarendon Centre was moved to the station and renamed "Clarendon" on May 11, 1871. The office closed on November 16, 1877, but was restored once again October 4, 1883, through April 30, 1910. The village of Homer is to the east of the township, and the Homer post office serves most of eastern Clarendon Township. The village of Tekonsha lies to the west, and the Tekonsha post office serves the southwest portion of Clarendon Township. The city of Marshall is to the northwest, and the Marshall post office serves the northwest portion of Clarendon Township. The township of Clarendon today, with its many cozy residences, broad highways, fields teeming with the manifold products of the soil, thrifty orchards, and ever-recurring evidences of prosperity, bears a striking contrast to the same territory as it appeared to the pioneers of 180 years ago, and with the exception that the contour of the surface remains the same the change in its aspect has been almost a complete revolution.​ You are welcome to visit our township, and we hope that you enjoy your stay, whether it be for a day, a week, or a lifetime!