Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/428

 368 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI At the present time there are no saloons in Dunklin, Stoddard, Bollinger, Wayne, Iron and New Madrid. There is presented a table showing the pop- ulation of the various counties as shown at each census from 18(50 to 1910. It is unfor- tunate that the figures are not obtainable for 1865 when the war closed. While this is not possible the figures that are given are highly instructive. Viewing them as a whole it is evident that all the counties have ex- perienced a great growth and development of population since the close of the war. That growth has been marvelous and in some coun- ties little short of incredible. It is evident that beginning in 1900 the section entered on a different era. Up to that time with scarcely a single exception the coun- ties showed a considerable increase during each decade. In the last decade a change takes place in some of the counties. The great growth in population was in the great agricultural counties of the alluvial bottoms, notably in Dunklin, New Madrid, Stoddard, Pemiscot, Scott, Mississippi and Butler; in the great mining county of St. Francois and in Jefferson county which is developing in both agriculture and manufacturing. The expansion of the agricultural counties is ex- plained by the great increase in cultivated lands due to drainage and the removal of the timber. The population of St. Francois has kept pace with the great increase in its min- ing interests. Cape Girardeau with its grow- ing city and its manufacturing interests, and Madison with the development of new mines showed considerable growth in the same pe- iod. Some of the counties lost population. This was doubtless due to the decided drift of population toward the cities, and in few cases to the closing of mills which had for merly supported numbers of people. It can- not be doubted that the population of South- east Missouri will continue to increase. The opportunities are good, and the possibility of supporting much greater numbers is present in every section of the district. Counties 1S60 1S70 ISSO 1890 1900 1910 Bollineer. 7.120 S,162 11.130 13.121 14.050 14,576 Butler .... 2,839 4.298 0,011 10.152 10,709 20,624 Cape Girardeau .14,014 17,558 20,998 22.000 24,315 27.621 Ciirter .... 1,215 1.455 2.168 4,059 0.700 5,504 Dunklin ... 4.855 5.982 9,004 15,085 21,700 30,328 Iron 5.529 6.278 8.183 9,119 8,710 8.503 Jefferson .. 9.780 15.380 18.736 22.484 25,712 27,878 Madison .. 5.197 5.844 8.876 9,268 9.975 11,273 Mississippi.. 3.849 4,982 9.270 10.134 11.837 14.557 New Madrid 3. 877 6.357 7.694 9.317 11.280 19,488 Pemiscot .. 2.694 2.059 4.299 5.975 12.115 19,569 Perry 8,389 9,877 11.895 13,237 15,134 14.898 Reynolds... 3.135 3.756 5.722 6.803 8.161 9,592 Ripley 3,609 3.175 5.377 8,512 13.180 13.099 St. Francois 0.372 9.742 13.822 17.347 24.051 35.738 Ste. Gen- erieve 7.412 8.3S4 10.390 9,883 10.359 10,607 Scott 4,744 7.317 8,587 11,228 13,092 22,372 Stoddard .. 7.602 8.535 13.431 17.327 24.G09 27.807 Washineton. 8.695 11.719 12.896 13.153 14.263 13.378 n-ayne 5,368 0.008 9.090 11.927 15.309 15.181 Organizations There are certain organizations within Southeast Missouri having somewhat dissimi- lar aims and purposes and yet all of them fitted for public services in some way or other. Some of them seek to keep alive the memory of great events while others, less his- torical in theory, have for their purpose the improvement of present conditions. One of these organizations is the Daughters of the American Revolution, a society of women who can trace their descent from some one or other of the Revolutionary soldiers. The pur- pose of this organization is to keep alive the memory of the Revolutionary struggle, of the men and women of our country who are descendants of Revolutionary patriots and to forward certain public movements within the state. The only chapter in Southeast Missouri is