Madison County, Illinois - Chapter 23: The Census Figures, 1912

The first census of the United States was taken in 1790 and the first in which Illinois figured was in 1810, eight years before the territory was admitted to the Union and two years before the organization of Madison county; hence the first Federal enumeration in which Madison figured is the fourth cen¬ sus, taken in 1820. The county at the last date consisted of all that territory lying north of its present southern boundary and east of its present eastern boundary as extended to the north border of the state, which included one-third of the whole area of Illinois. In 1821, by the organization of new counties to the northward, the county had been reduced to its present dimensions with the exception of eighteen sections in the northeast corner. These sections were taken from Madison and set off to Bond in 1843, thus reducing Madi¬ son to its present dimensions. This explana¬ tion will account for the apparent loss of population between 1820 and 1830, the cen¬ sus of the former year covering vastly more territory than that of 1830.

1900, 13.559 P I9°° to I9IO» 26>°53- The increase the first thirty years from 1830 to i860, was very uniform, being between 8,- 000 and 9,000 in each decade. Between 1840 and 1850 the gain was less than the previous decade, owing to the setting off of the eigh¬ teen sections to Bond, as mentioned. Between i860 and 1870, notwithstanding the losses caused by the Civil war and the restrictions of natural increase, there was a gain of 3,- 870 over the previous decade of peace. The next decade showed a gain of less than half as much, but the smallest increase in the county's history was between 1880 and 1890 when it only numbered 1,394. The slump in increase from 1870 to 1890, was due to the depression following the war, to the decrease of European immigration and to the exodus of our farmers to the newer lands of the west. But the renaissance came with the next de¬ cade when the increase was nearly ten times that of the ten years previous. But the great¬ est increase in the county's history came in the last decade, when the revised census re¬ turns showed a population of 90,747, an in¬ crease of 26,053 or 4° Per cent.

The remarkable gain of 39,612 in the last twenty years, is owing, mainly, to the wonder¬ ful growth of manufactures on the west side of the county, including Alton, Collinsville, Granite City, Madison, Wood River and Ven¬ ice, where vast industries have developed in the last twenty years and mainly in the last ten. The magic growth of Granite City and Madison is one of the wonders of the age. In 1890 their sites were corn fields - now they are large and flourishing cities. The west side of the county, from Alton to Venice, known as the American Bottom is the site of several of the greatest industries in the United States.

The gain in population, in the last twenty years, has been almost wholly in the cities, adding Edwardsville to those named above. The rural townships have, as a rule, declined in population. This is due to several reasons, including the lure of the cities, the higher wages paid in factories and the fact that with the improvements in implements and machin¬ ery, constantly in progress, less labor is re¬ quired on farms to accomplish a given amount of work. For illustration the rural townships of Chouteau, Fort Russell, Foster, Godfrey, Hamel, Leef, Marine, Moro, Omphghent, Pin Oak and St. Jacob have less population now than they had in 1890, notwithstanding the great gain in the county as a whole.

Referring to the above : Part of Alton township, including the village of North Al¬ ton, was annexed to Alton in 1907. In 1910, after the taking of the census, the village of Upper Alton was consolidated with Alton un¬ der the name of the latter, giving the munici¬ pality of Alton a total population, in the spring of 1910, of 20,446.

The character of the population has changed radically since the organization of the county in 1812, when the settlers were almost entirely Americans, but the large German immigration of later years and the removal of Americans westward, have caused a great change in the racial types in the county. The greatest trans¬ formation has occurred within the last twenty years with the influx of a large laboring pop¬ ulation to the industrial cities, mainly from southern Europe. The county is now a great alembic of many nationalties which, in coming years, will blend into a new racial type, in which the characteristics of some nationalities will be lost and others assimilated. Whether the Madison county inhabitants, of the next century, will be an improvement on the origi¬ nal American type remains for future histo¬ rians to record.

The proportion of native and foreign born citizens of Madison county is not yet available from the census of 1910, nor the proportion of males to females. In lieu thereof the statis¬ tics for 1900, under these heads are given: Native born, 55,765; foreign born, 8,929; whites, 61,861 ; colored, 2,817. Native born males, 28,702 ; native born females, 27,063 ; foreign born males, 5,139; foreign born fe¬ males, 3,763. Native whites of native parents: Males, 15,187; females, 14,047. Native whites of foreign born parents: 12,041 males; 11,673 females. The native whites of native parents aggregated 29,234. The foreign born and the native whites of foreign born parents aggre¬ gated 32,627, showing that in 1900 the foreign born and the native born of foreign parents exceeded the native born of native parents by 3,393. This shows that the foreign born and their descendants were in the majority in 1900, and, owing to the great foreign immigration of the last ten years, are in still great preponder¬ ance today.