In today’s edition of the series, we have a Cool Link for the 1950 Census. 1950 census data was already available on different websites, but it was general population and demographic data only. The National Archives and Record Administration, or NARA, has now released complete records. Many of these records were unavailable to the general public prior to this release because the data fell under what’s called the “72 Year Rule”, in which the US government will not release any personally identifiable information until 72 years has passed after the date of data collection. With the 1950 Census, that time has come.
You can search the records by place, record type or even by a person’s name. This is great not only for historic population and demographic data, but also for genealogical research into family histories.
For those counting, there are 99 places in that list. 79 of them, or 79.8%, show growth over the period. Every place within Franklin County saw growth- maybe not down to the neighborhood level- but in all of the towns and cities.
Columbus passed 800,000 for the first time, and its actual growth rate increased from about 1.1% annually to 1.6% annually.
