Captain Edward L. Craw attracted settlers to this area beginning in 1866 by successfully raising peaches on this very land, which at the time carried the name Crawville. Many fortunes were made raising fruit and shipping it from the shores of Spring Lake. The Township and village became known as Fruitport in 1869.

Shortly thereafter in 1874-5, a bitterly cold winter killed nearly all the peach trees. However, many of the pioneers remained to establish the area still known as Fruitport.

More About Fruitport
Fruitport Charter Township is a charter township of Muskegon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 12,533 at the 2000 census. The village of Fruitport is within the township.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 30.1 square miles (78.1 km²), of which, 30.0 square miles (77.7 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (0.43%) is water.

Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 12,533 people, 4,446 households, and 3,516 families residing in the township. The population density was 417.6 per square mile (161.2/km²). There were 4,584 housing units at an average density of 152.7/sq mi (59.0/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 96.90% White, 0.65% African American, 0.70% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.45% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.68% of the population.

There were 4,446 households out of which 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.2% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.9% were non-families. 16.8% 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 2.80 and the average family size was 3.15.

In the township the population was spread out with 27.7% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 97.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.0 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $49,065, and the median income for a family was $54,634. Males had a median income of $40,165 versus $27,690 for females. The per capita income for the township was $20,582. About 5.4% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.0% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.