Editing Sweetwater Township, Michigan (section)

== Communities ==
*'''Branch''' is an [[unincorporated community]] on [[U.S. Route 10 in Michigan|US&nbsp;10]] on the boundary between [[Mason County, Michigan|Mason County]] and [[Lake County, Michigan|Lake County]] at {{Coord|43|56|45|N|86|02|21|W|region:US-MI_type:city_scale:30000_source:GNIS|name=Branch, Michigan|}}.<ref>{{gnis|1622874|Branch, Michigan}}</ref> The community shares its name with [[Branch Township, Michigan|Branch Township]] in Mason County, but is also within Sweetwater Township in Lake County. It was founded about 1873 by Benjamin F. Barnett, who built a lumbermen's hotel. The [[Pere Marquette Railway]] later ran the hotel and made it a station. Barnett became the first postmaster of Branch, in Mason County, on February 1, 1876, named for the township, which in turn is named for the north branch of the [[Pere Marquette River]]. On October 1, 1962, the post office was transferred to Lake County.<ref name="Romig">{{cite book | last = Romig | first = Walter  | year = 1986 | title = Michigan Place Names | orig-year= 1973 | publisher = Wayne State University Press | location = Detroit, Michigan | isbn = 0-8143-1838-X}}</ref>  The Branch [[ZIP code]] 49402 serves most of Sweetwater township, as well as in Lake County, the western parts of [[Sauble Township, Lake County, Michigan|Sauble Township]] and [[Lake Township, Lake County, Michigan|Lake Township]] and a small area of [[Webber Township, Lake County, Michigan|Webber Township]]. In Mason County, the ZIP code serves the eastern parts of Branch Township and [[Sheridan Township, Mason County, Michigan|Sheridan Township]], most of [[Logan Township, Mason County, Michigan|Logan Township]], and small areas of [[Meade Township, Mason County, Michigan|Meade Township]], [[Eden Township, Mason County, Michigan|Eden Township]], and [[Custer Township, Mason County, Michigan|Custer Township]] and a small area of [[Colfax Township, Oceana County, Michigan|Colfax Township]] in [[Oceana County, Michigan|Oceana County]].<ref>[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/MapItDrawServlet?geo_id=86000US49402&_bucket_id=50&tree_id=420&context=AdvSearch&_lang=en 49402 5-Digit ZCTA, 494 3-Digit ZCTA - Reference Map - American FactFinder]{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}, U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census</ref>
*[[Baldwin, Michigan|Baldwin]] is to the southeast, and the Baldwin ZIP code 49304 also serves a small area in southeast Sweetwater Township.<ref>[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/MapItDrawServlet?geo_id=86000US49304&_bucket_id=50&tree_id=420&context=AdvSearch&_lang=en 49304 5-Digit ZCTA, 493 3-Digit ZCTA - Reference Map - American FactFinder]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 census</ref>