The original historical design of local government in Michigan featured cities and townships as providers of basic public services. Incorporated cities provided services to more densely populated areas with concentrations of commercial and industrial development. Townships provided services to sparsely populated rural and predominantly agricultural areas. The village was intended as an intermediate step to provide public services to a more densely populated community located in an area that was still predominantly agricultural. Under Michigan's local governmental structure, territory incorporated as a city is removed from the township.
Villages continue to be an integral part of the township.
Village residents pay both the village and township property tax. Suburban growth and expansion after World War II placed great pressure on Michigan's system of local government. Initially, the system coped with these pressures by creating new cities out of unincorporated areas. In the early 1970's the Legislature revised the state's annexation laws. A 1972 law struck a compromise between city and township interests by granting the State Boundary Commission authority over annexations and requiring a vote if annexed territory had 100 or more residents.