PIONEER FOUNDERS OF GOVERNMENT IN WISCONSIN (1) Governor Henry Dodge, 1836-1841-1845-1848; (2) Governor James Duane Doty, 1841-1844; (3) Governor Nathaniel P. Tallmage, 1844-1845: (4) Col. W. S. Hamilton, Hamilton's Diggings; (5) Judge Morgan L. Martin, Green Bay. STATISTICS RELATING TO WISCONSIN FROM THE 1920 CENSUS W BY E. E. WITTE Chief, Legislative Reference Library HILE the Fourteenth Census was taken in 1920, certain portions of this census have as yet not been made public by the United States Census Bureau. The census data already published, however, makes it certain that while the population of Wisconsin in creased somewhat less rapidly between 1910 and 1920 than did the population of the country as a whole, the Badger State made more rapid progress than the country at large both in agriculture and manufactures. E. E. WITTE POPULATION Total Population Wisconsin is the twenty-fifth state in area, but the thirteenth state in population. This has been the rank of Wisconsin in population at each census since 1900. In 1920 the total population of the state was 2,632,067, which is 2.5 per cent of the entire population of the United States. This gives Wisconsin an average density per square mile of 47.6 people, as compared with 35.5 for the country as a whole. Of all northern states east of the Mississippi river, however, only Maine and Vermont are less densely populated than is Wisconsin. Within the state the density of population varies greatly, ranging 7.2 people per square mile in Florence county to 2,295.5 people per square mile in Milwaukee county. Between 1910 and 1920 the population of Wisconsin increased 12.8 per cent. This is identically the same rate of increase as between 1900 and 1910. For the entire United States the percentage of increase in population during the last decade was 14.9 per cent. Of the increase in population in Wisconsin, more than two-thirds was in cities of over 25,000 and nearly 40 per cent of the total in Milwaukee alone. The population of Wisconsin at each census since 1840 and the increase over the preceding census is shown in Table I. Fourteen of the seventy-one counties of the state lost slightly in population between 1910 and 1920. On the other hand one county (Kenosha) increased its population by more than 50 per cent, and six counties by between 25 per cent and 50 per cent. Of these seven counties which had the greatest increases in population, five are rural counties of northern Wisconsin and two industrial counties of southeastern Wisconsin. All of the counties which lost population are predominately rural counties, not one of them having a city of above 10,000 population. Of the large cities in Wisconsin, Kenosha had the greatest percentage of increase in population; and, in consequence, it advanced its ranking from the eighth to the third city of the state. Milwaukee and Racine held first and second places respectively, and both showed great increases in population. Madison, Beloit, Janesville, Manitowoc and West Allis are the other larger cities which increased their population by more than one-third during the decade. Wisconsin has only one city classified by the census as a "large city," Milwaukee. This is the thirteenth city in the United States, with a total population of 457,147. Adding the suburbs, the total population of the metropolitan district of Milwaukee is 537,737. Aside from Milwaukee there are 20 other cities in Wisconsin with a population of above 10,000. There are also 20 cities with between 5,000 and 10,000 population, and 41 with a population between 2,500 and 5,000, while there are 375 cities and villages which have between 500 and 2,500 people. Urban and Rural Population The census treats as urban territory cities with a population of 2,500 and over. Rural territory includes not only unincorporated towns, but villages and cities with a population of less than 2,500 as well. |