CHAPTER LXVI:
STATISTICS.

  POPULATION.
 

YEARS CITY COUNTY STATE
1810 ------ ------- 4,702
1820 ----- ------- 8,896
1830 ------ ------- 31,639
1834 ------ ------- 87,273
1837 ------ 2,022 175,025
1840 ------ 2,587 212,267
1845 *1,510 6,153 302,521
1850 2,686 12,016 397,654
1854 4,278 17,786 507,521
1860 8,085 30,743 749,113
1864 +9,770 33,477 803,661
1870 16,507 50,540 1,184,282
1874 25,923 62,671 1,334,031
1880 32,016 73,253 1,636,937
1884 41,898 84,600 1,853,658
1890 64,147 109,935 2,089,792
                          *Township of Grand Rapids;  + Exclusive of soldiers in the field.
 
The 1860 census shows 125 colored persons and one Indian in the county; that of 1870, 167 colored and nine Indians; that of 1880, 513 colored, two Chinese and one Indian. Probably the enumerators did not hunt very carefully for Indians and Chinamen.
 

 

POPULATION BY NATIVITIES.
 

YEARS CITY 
NATIVE / FOREIGN		 COUNTY 
NATIVE / FOREIGN
1800 ----- / ------ 24,196 / 6,520
1870 10,782 / 5,725 38,309 / 12,094
1880 22,016 / 10,000 55,833 / 17,420
1884 ----- / ----- 60,790 / 23,155
 

POPULATION BY SEX.
 
 

YEARS CITY 
MALES / FEMALES		 COUNTY 
MALES / FEMALES
1850 1,346 /1,340 6,371 / 5,645
1854 2,140 / 2,104 9,273 / 8,513
1860 4,097 / 3,988 16,026 / 14,564
1864 4,651 / 5,119 16,880 / 16,567
1870 8,345 / 8,163 26,166 / 24,244
1874 13,207 / 12,716 32,576 / 30,095
1880 ----- / ------ 38,014 / 35,239
1884 21,136 / 20,762 43,467 / 41,133
 
The census reports have some curious features, which may possibly puzzle future readers to understand. According to them there were in Michigan in 1854, 616 more married men than married women. In 1864 there were 2,689 more married women than married men. In 1874 the married males outnumbered the married females by 1,611, and in 1884 the preponderance of married males over married females was 3,045. The discrepancy in 1864 may doubtless be attributed to the war, but that of 1884 is not so easily accounted for. It is probably the result of difficulties in enumerating traveling men and others absent from home at the time of taking the census, being liable to be counted both at their homes and wherever they may happen to meet the enumerator.

In 1810 there were twenty-four slaves in the Territory of Michigan.

KENT COUNTY VILLAGES---POPULATION.

Casnovia lies partly in Tyrone township, Kent county, and partly in Casnovia, Muskegon county. Cedar Springs lies in two towns, Solon and Nelson. Lisbon is partly in Sparta, Kent county, and partly in Chester, Ottawa county. Rockford is at the corner of the four towns, Courtland, Plainfield, Algoma and Cannon, lying party in each. Lowell (originally named Dansville, but changed to Lowell in 1857) is in the township of Lowell. Sand Lake is in the township of Nelson. Sparta Village is in Sparta township.


YEARS WHEN  
INCORPORATED		 POP. JUNE 
1, 1884
Casnovia 1875 215
Cedar Springs 1871 1,023
Lisbon 1869 110
Lowell 1859 1,838
Rockford 1871 815
Sand Lake 1879 571
Sparta 1883 695
 

KENT COUNTY TOWNSHIPS--POPULATION--FIVE CENSUSES*

*The figures for 1890 are those of the first or preliminary count.
 
 

COUNTY 1854 1864 1874 1884 1890*
ADA 746 1094 1351 1321 1296
ALGOMA 570 992 2591 2061 2077
ALPINE 861 1194 1348 1404 1383
BOWNE 357 814 1240 1284 1212
BYRON 637 1145 1504 1679 1748
CALEDONIA 301 923 1680 1931 1790
CANNON 874 1142 1205 1145 1115
CASCADE 526 940 1050 1147 1147
COURTLAND 703 1388 1287 1325 1269
GAINES 515 961 1273 1307 1349
GRAND RAPIDS 872 1053 1941 4127 7783
GRATTAN 800 1141 1250 1163 1107
LOWELL 473 1417 2826 2273 3143
NELSON ---- 430 2361 2345 2147
OAKFIELD 643 912 1080 1048 1047
PARIS 789 1443 1816 2189 3166
PLAINFIELD 807 1126 1941 1450 1575
SOLON ---- 391 1310 1691 1767
SPARTA 531 1032 1587 2265 2640
SPENCER ---- 209 662 1277 1260
TYRONE ---- 257 866 1400 1499
VERGENNES 1042 1210 1129 1167 1094
WALKER 756 1279 1884 2341 3240
WYOMING 788 1195 2008 2362 3240
 

At this point, I am taking the liberty of not completing this chapter. It is the statistics
for :
"Assessed City Valuation by Wards--1872 and from 1878 to 1890"
"Taxation by Wards for a Series of Years"
"Street, Sewer and Water Works Expenses for Twelve Years"
"Internal Revenue Receipts, Fourth District of Michigan, Office At Grand Rapids--1863 to 1889 Inclusive"
"Losses by Fire---Eighteen Years"
If anyone would like these statistics (which are just dates and money amounts) please
drop me a line and I will be happy to send a copy of these to you; however, I just didn't
feel it was something of any interest to the general researcher of history and genealogy.

Thanks!
~RA mira@eagledesign.com

 
Document Source: Baxter, Albert, History of the City of Grand Rapids, New York and Grand Rapids: Munsell & Company, Publishers, 1891.
Location of Original: Various.
Transcribers: Ronnie August

Created: 2 August 1999