Wednesday, April 25, 2001

Fayette census has a story to tell

By CAROLYN CARY
Contributing Writer

The Census 2000 figures are now out, and studying the census figures for the past 180 years for Fayette County produces an interesting observation.

Though the county was created in 1821, the first census was not until 1830 and reflected a population of 5,555 people.

If you take a mean average of the census figures from 1830 to 1970, you will see that approximately 8,000 people lived here during each decade. When you consider that over that 140-year period, the average population did not change, it's quite a revelation.

A glance at the population in 1860 reflects a drop of over 3,000 people from the 1850 census. Many think it was because of the Civil War, but that did not begin until 1861. The reason for the drop was the fact that Fayette County's eastern border was originally on the other side of Jonesboro, and in 1858, Clayton County was created, taking a number of Fayette folks with it.

Looking at the 1920 census, we find a population of 11,396 people, and in 1930 it is only 8,665 people. No, the drop did not come from the Depression, but from the fact that the boll weevil hit the county in 1920 and 1921 and decimated the cotton crops. Because that was the primary cash crop, it hurt everyone, land owners and share croppers alike.

Many share croppers headed to Atlanta and many more went to Detroit, where Ford Motor Company had perfected the automobile production line.

That brings us to the census of 1980, which reflected a population jump of 17,000 people. In 1990, there was a population jump of 34,000 people ,and as of the 2000 census population figures, there is another jump of nearly another 29,000 persons.

Again, the mean average from 1830 to 1970 is 8,000 people per decade; the mean average from 1970 to 2000 increased to 26,600. This fact is brought to your attention every time you're sitting at the intersection of Ga. highways 85 and 54 or Ga. highways 54 and 74.

I always estimate from available records the estimated population each year between the official census years. I had estimated that the 2000 census would be 93,000 and it came in at 91,263 persons. I wonder which one of us made an error.

[Carolyn Cary is Fayette County's official historian and editor of "The History of Fayette County," published by the Fayette County Historical Society.]

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