ALBION’S 2020 U.S. CENSUS RESULTS

The number has been released, although it hasn’t been widely publicized. Albion’s population count for the 2020 U.S. Census is 7,700 persons. That’s a loss of 916 persons from the 2010 Census results of 8,616. There are a variety of reasons for this continued downward population trend we’ve seen over the past several decades, which we need not go into in this column. Government funding, aid, and other decisions involving our community (including city council precinct boundaries) will now be made with the new 2020 figures over the next decade. Stay tuned.

Have you ever wondered about Albion’s population figures from each decade? These show how our community has grown, and declined in size. Our peak was in 1960 when there were almost 13,000 persons living within our city limits. It should be noted that our Albion College students have been included in the count for several decades, as they live here most of the year.

What can we learn from the following statistics of Albion’s Census count each decade? 1860—1,720; 1870—2,409; 1880—2,716; 1890—3,763; 1900—4,519; 1910—5,830; 1920—8,354; 1930—8,267; 1940—8,345; 1950—10,406 (college students first included); 1960—12,749; 1970—12,112; 1980—11,059; 1990—10,066; 2000—9,144; 2010—8616; 2020—7,700.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present an official U.S. Census badge from 1900 which would have been used by Census takers here in Albion that year. This badge officially identified the Census taker who went door-to-door. They also got to keep the badge; occasionally one of these shows up for sale on eBay. It is made of pewter, and measures about an inch and three-quarters long. How many of our readers have ever been Census enumerators?

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
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	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
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