The
town was named for a Great Lakes ship captain named Bailey who was caught in an unexpected severe storm in 1848 and found shelter in the harbor. The area was formerly known as Gibraltar.[3] A Native American name for the harbor is "Ah-quah-o-me-ning" for "Fish go to shore".[4]
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 68.8 square miles (178.1 km2), of which, 29.5 square miles (76.5 km2) of it is land and 39.2 square miles (101.6 km2) of it (57.07%) is water.
Demographics
As of the
census[2] of 2000, there were 1,003 people, 483 households, and 301 families residing in the town. The
population density was 34.0 people per square mile (13.1/km2). There were 1,029 housing units at an average density of 34.9 per square mile (13.5/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.21%
White, 0.10%
African American, 0.40%
Native American, 0.30%
Asian, 0.20% from
other races, and 0.80% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 1.60% of the population.
There were 483 households, out of which 19.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.5% were
married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.5% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.60.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 17.0% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 32.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.7 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $41,350, and the median income for a family was $49,250. Males had a median income of $31,705 versus $26,458 for females. The
per capita income for the town was $23,835. About 1.7% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the
poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.