Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900A regional history written by Timothy H. Ball . . . .

Source Citation:
Ball, Timothy H. 1900. Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900 or A View of Our Region Through the Nineteenth Century. Chicago, Illinois: Donohue and Henneberry. 570 p.

NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900

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CHAPTER XXXIX.

SOME STATISTICS.

The following table will show the increase of our counties in population according to the Census Reports. For 1900, estimated:

Note. In the first column of figures for 1900 the population as given, or estimated, is three and one-half times the number of the school children, as enum-

537

erated in May, 1900, for Lake, Porter and La Porte Counties. For the other five counties it is only three times the number of the school children. In the second column for 1900 the figures are given for the number of thousands which it is estimated the census of 1900 will give, and a blank space is left for filling in the other three figures when the census enumeration is published. The accuracy or want of accuracy of the estimate will then plainly appear. Those who study statistics as to population will take an interest in the investigation. It appears from the table as given that in 1880 the population of La Porte County was more than double the population of Lake County. And as now estimated the population of Lake is nearly equal to that of La Porte, as the school children are in number nearly equal. No one need be surprised if the census of 1900 gives a larger population to Lake County than to La Porte. It is quite possible that Lake will come up to 40,000. In a few months we will know.

It is interesting to compare with the population the number of children of school age, as they are enumerated in May of each year by the township trustees. The following figures are from official sources:

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In La Porte County were, in 1880, 63 colored children. In Michigan City in 1880, of children, 2,080, in La Porte 3,439, in Westville 283.

It appears from the above figures that the school children in Lake County have more than doubled in number in the last twenty years. The population also of Lake County has much more than doubled. This increase has been largely in North township where the population in 1880 was 2,540. Hammond had then a population of 699, Whiting of 115, and East Chicago was not. Now the school children of Hammond are 3,621, of East Chicago 876, and of Whiting 640. Of Crown Point they number 700. Children in Rensselaer 697, of Valparaiso 1,348. The proportion which the children of school age bear to the entire population is quite different in the different counties. Let us take the year 1880. Three times the number of school children in Lake, 16,080, give nearly a thousand more than the population. In Porter that same will give nearly two thousand less. The same in La Porte County, 33,324, exceeds the population by two and a third thousand. In Starke the same ratio exceeds the population by five hundred. In Pulaski the excess is a thousand. In White, which is like Porter County in regard to children, three times the school children, 12,342, will give fourteen hundred less than the population. In Jasper an excess appears of seven hundred more than the real population. In Newton County alone the proportion of one to three nearly holds good. Three times 2,743, 8,229, slightly exceeds the population, which is 8,167. But taking the year 1890 as a criterion of the real proportion which the school children bear to the entire population and the following results appear: Excess of population in

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Lake County, above three times the enumeration, 3,627. In Porter excess only 331. And in 1880 the excess was 1,849. In La Porte three times the enumeration in 1890 exceeds the population by 208, instead of, as in 1880, by 2,339. In Starke three times the enumeration exceeds the population by 824. In Pulaski the same exceeds the population by 1,370. In White the same is less than the population by 125. In Jasper the excess above the population is 710, and in Newton the same is 436 less than the population. It appears then that the population is sometimes much more and sometimes much less than three times the number of the school children.

In an ordinary, agricultural community three and a half times the number of children will usually exceed the population.

The following view of town population, taken from the census reports, is also of interest:

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From all the foregoing it is quite evident that, in several particulars, Lake County, in the coming century, will take the lead of all these northwestern counties; and it becomes its inhabitants, as well as those of the other counties, to see that between the manufacturing interests of the lake shore towns and the agricultural interests of the central and southern parts of these shall come no clashing and arise no strife. From the fertile lands of the Kankakee Valley, and from the rich farms north of the "shore line" and south of the large valley, much of the true wealth of this region is to be produced; and well will it be if all the thousands in the towns and on the farms will work together for the common good. 

NAVIGATION OF
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900

FRONT MATTER AND DEDICATION
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL OUTLINES
CHAPTER 2 - THE INDIANS
CHAPTER 3 - THE EARLY SETTLERS
CHAPTER 4 - WHAT THE EARLY SETTLERS FOUND
CHAPTER 5 - PIONEER LIFE
CHAPTER 6 - COUNTY ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER 7 - OUR LAKES AND STREAMS
CHAPTER 8 - LAKE MICHIGAN WATER SHED
CHAPTER 9 - TOWNSHIP AND STATISTICS
CHAPTER 10 - RAILROAD LIFE
CHAPTER 11 - POLITICAL HISTORY
CHAPTER 12 - THE WAR RECORD
CHAPTER 13 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 14 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 15 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 16 - SUNDAY SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 17 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF NEWTON AND JASPER
CHAPTER 18 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF WHITE, PULASKI AND STARKE
CHAPTER 19 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LAKE
CHAPTER 20 - VILLAGES AND TOWNS OF PORTER
CHAPTER 21 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LA PORTE
CHAPTER 22 - EARLY TRAVELS
CHAPTER 23 - PUBLIC SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 24 - PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 25 - LIBRARIES
CHAPTER 26 - OTHER INDUSTRIES
CHAPTER 27 - SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER 28 - THE KANKAKEE REGION
CHAPTER 29 - DRAINING MARSHES
CHAPTER 30 - ANIMALS AND PLANTS
CHAPTER 31 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER 32 - COURT HOUSES
CHAPTER 33 - ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS
CHAPTER 34 - BIRTH PLACES OF PIONEERS
CHAPTER 35 - McCARTY
CHAPTER 36 - ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE
CHAPTER 37 - ALTITUDES
CHAPTER 38 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER 39 - SOME STATISTICS
CHAPTER 40 - WEATHER RECORD
CONCLUSION

Transcribed by Steven R. Shook, April 2012

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