The early twentieth century saw additional, tremendous change in southeastern Kentucky brought about the exploitation of natural resources, primarily coal. The prospect of employment brought large numbers of new residents. According to the 1920 United States Census the counties of Harlan, Perry, Letcher, and Pike were the fastest growing Kentucky counties since the 1910 Census (percentage increase in parentheses):
Census Harlan Perry Letcher Pike
1910 10566 11255 10623 31679
1920 31546 (299%) 26042 (231%) 24467 (230%) 49477 (56%)
Letcher County is situated on Pike County’s southern border, and Harlan County borders Letcher County’s southern border. Perry County borders Letcher County’s western border.
This large, rapid population growth presented infrastructure and social problems. Housing was in such short supply that coal mine operators were forced to construct entire communities for their employees if they hoped to acquire the necessary manpower for ongoing operations. Several of those communities grew into actual towns that still exist today.
In 1920, over 51,000 Kentuckians, or two percent of the population, were employed in the census category “extraction of minerals,” and they produced over 33 million tons of coal that year. Pike County contributed 4.7 million of that amount. By contrast, in 1999 only 17,000 Kentucky citizens were employed in coal mining and produced over 144 million tons. Pike County set the single county annual record in 1999 with over 35 million tons.
Illiteracy was a significant problem in 1920, where six percent of the U.S. population over the age of 10 was illiterate. In Kentucky, the figure was 8.4%. Among whites, the percentages were 2.5 and 7.0, respectively, while for blacks they shot up to 22.9 and 21.0 percent.
The U.S. Census Bureau considered 51.4% of the country’s 1920 population as residing in an urban area, as opposed to rural. But Kentucky was still largely rural, with only 26.2 % of its people living in urban areas.
The population of America was also very much younger. In 1900, 45% of the U.S. population was under the age of 20 years, and in 1920 the figure was 41%. In 2000, it was 14%. Part of this was due to the greater number of children born, and part to the shorter life expectancy. In 1900, the life expectancy at birth for a white child was 47.6 years. For a black child it was 33 years.
Immigration had a tremendous impact on population demographics. Most were from Europe and they came in staggering numbers. In the years it served as an immigrant processing center from 1892 to 1934, Ellis Island process over 22 million people, adding about 25% to the U.S. population. So it is no surprise that in 1920 almost one quarter of the U.S. population had one or both parents born in another country. In New England, the percentage was just under 50%.
Today, it is generally accepted that there are more females than males in the general population, but in the early twentieth century that was not true. For example, in 1920 there were 103.2 white males for each 100 white females. But in the black population, there were more females than males. About 1950, the percentage of females permanently surpassed the percentage of males.
In 1920, 21.7% of all deaths were in children under age five. In 1880, the percentage was 44.
