Redbridge and Balsam Creek are the recognized names of the communities that reside on Highway 63 and are the majority of the population that forms Phelps Township.

Phelps Township is a unincorporated township within the Nipissing-Temiskaming electoral district. In place of a mayor and municipal government there are volunteer groups that organize and coordinate activities.

Public elections are held every three years for the five main volunteer boards that give governance. Police services are conducted for the township by the O.P.P (Ontario Provincial Police).

Before 1892, Redbridge and this region was part of the electoral district of Renfrew North. It initially consisted of the temporary judicial district of Nipissing and the townships of Head, Clara and Maria in the county of Renfrew, and a part of the district of Algoma.

This entire area was redefined to consist of 64 different townships and a broad swath of north-eastern Ontario between Georgian Bay and Hudson Bay/James Bay. Included in this redefinition of the district area was the creation of the Phelps Township.

By 1894, the Nipissing District consisted of Widdifield, Ferris, Bonfield, Phelps, Mulock, Merrick and Blyth. Phelps Township is now apart of all districts that make the Nippissing District.

Nippissing was a federal electoral district that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1896 to 2004. It was located in the north-eastern part of Ontario, Canada. When it was first created, the riding took in the eastern half of north-eastern Ontario, including the towns of North-Bay and Sudbury.

In 2004, the riding was reformed by the amalgamation of the former Nipissing riding with the south-eastern portion of the former Timiskaming Cochrane riding. The present name of the elctoral riding is the Nipissing Timiskaming electoral district.

Phelps Township is located approximately 25 kilometers north-east of the city of North-Bay. We are associated as the Northern Part of the unorganized townships within the Nipissing District.