Monthly Archives: November 2018

Census blog

The area between Gilham Rd and Cherry street changed drastically over these time periods. The main reason was because the population continued to grow every year. African American and
White were the more dominant races between the years. As this area began to change, there was an increase in income, greater amount of individuals that were educated and attended some college and the housing rates and rent were increased dramatically.

Census Data Analysis Wyandotte to Main

The census tracts for the blocks of Armour Boulevard between Wyandotte and Main were 47 and 48 for the 1950 and 2000 censuses but changed to tract 167 in the 2010 data. For the most part, my area did not change as much as other blocks. This portion of Armour has always been made up of working class individuals. The 1950 data shows the area to be predominately white and the 2000 and 2010 data is very similar. While the population of the city as a whole increased, the population on Armour between Wyandotte and Main decreased. This decrease is most likely due to the demolition of many apartment buildings to make space for retail and corporate buildings such as the American Red Cross at Wyandotte and Armour.

Norton Avenue to Spruce Avenue: Census Analysis

The Census Tracts for Norton and Spruce Avenue are split between Census Tracts 57 and 58, so i analyzed both. As one of my other classmates has observed, the most striking statistics in this area, are that of race. In Both census tracts, the area does a complete 180, in terms of the white and black populations, in the 50 years between 1950 and 2000. The area shifts from nearly exclusively white (100% white in Census Tract 57) to almost completely black.

Another interesting statistic is the number of houses built and destroyed between the two census tracts. They roughly balance each other out. While about 100 houses are built in Census Tract 57, nearly 100 houses are destroyed in Census Tract 58.

Census Data Blog

My assigned blocks were 35th and Prospect Avenue through Chestnut Avenue. This is a low income neighborhood that revealed some very interesting census data. The most intriguing piece of data I found for this area was the racial demographics. In 1950, this area was almost all Caucasian. There were over 8,000 Caucasian people and only 18 African American people in this neighborhood back in 1950. As of 2010, this data has virtually flipped. There was a big decrease in population through those 60 years, so now there are 19 Caucasian people and 1,918 African Americans. Throughout the past 60-70 years, we’ve seen most of the Caucasians move out of the city and into the suburbs, while African Americans have moved into the downtown area.

Census Tract 57

Within my boundary of Indiana to Askew, not much had changed population wise from 1950 to 2010, however, there was a major racial shift from 1950 to 2000. The tract population was 100% white people in 1950, particularly the white middle aged people who were well off in their jobs and set in their lives. This all changed and on the 2000 census, tract 57 was recorded as having almost 96% of it’s residents identifying as African American, who turned out to be making more income and raising the value of the houses. A concept that was “unbelievable” at that time in history. I believe this was due to the lifting of the racially restrictive covenants as well as the redlining that was around before the Civil Rights movement. Even in present day Indiana and Askew, the population is predominantly African American and slightly more Hispanic and Latino than it was in 2000 as well.

Back in 1950, pretty much every house had a family or somebody living in them. Unfortunately as time has passed, this has not remained the case. There were 312 vacant housing units in this census tract in 2010, but there were 30,000 vacant housing units in the metropolitan area of Kansas City. This was a huge shock and a disappointment as most of us drive by at least one homeless person a day. The fact that we have this many unused houses is astounding and heartbreaking when they could be put to good use instead of just rotting away.

Harrison Boulevard to Forest Avenue, Census Tracts 52 and 178

The two census tracts along Armour Boulevard that contain portions of Forest Avenue and Harrison Boulevard have seen better days. During the 1950s, it was a densely populated area, outfitted with many grocery and drug stores to serve the nearly 20,000 residents within just these two tracts. 82% of those residents lived in the many apartment buildings in the area, as many as 6 within a four block radius. 99% of these tracts’ residents were Caucasian. By 2000, the landscape had dramatically changed, nearly all of the previous apartments being demolished, and the population shifting to an almost even distribution of white and black. This period of 50 years saw the population decrease by almost 5,000 people. As disinvestment crept in, so did crime of all kinds which made the area even more undesirable. By 2010, the area’s population density had sunk to just 5, 219 people per square mile on average (it was an average of 26,862 in 1950). The population had become so small in fact that the two tracts that had contained Harrison and several other streets to its West for 50 years were consolidated into just one tract in 2010. Though this area was and is still blighted, promising signs of revitalization are appearing. A community center at the intersection of Armour and Forest that sat abandoned for more than 40 years has been purchased and is currently under construction, and an Operation Breakthrough Center has opened at 31st and Armour.

Census Data Analysis

I was assigned 35th Street from Chelsea Ave. to Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd, which is attributed to census tract 58.1. Kansas City has historically had a low representation of non-Whites, in 1950 they only represented 13% of the population in the City, which rose somewhat in 2000 to 31.2, and by 2010 non-Whites represented only 29% of the overall population. When taking the census tract into consideration, it is immensely clear that non-Whites in Kansas City are segregated from White communities, they are not receiving adequate education (by 2010 the educational attainment was high school graduate), they are working low paying jobs, and are forced to live in poverty conditions. This is some of the information gleaned from gathering this data, and for census tract 58.01, which is east of Troost, the 1950 to 2010 is representative of White flight and segregation of non-Whites.

Hardesty and Oakley

My area consisted of Hardesty Avenue and Oakley Avenue on 35th street. This area today is close to Van Brunt Boulevard and has not much development around and just a few houses. One of the most interesting things that I came across was the simple fact that as black families moved in white families fled for segregated neighborhoods. Taking a look at 1950 census data shows 3,214 white people lived in this census tract. In 2000 only 91 white peopled here. This alone was very shocking

Census analysis on 35th street between Olive St and Prospect Ave

Four blocks which I had to analyze are between Olive St and Prospect Ave on 35th St. From 1950 to 2010, there are two big changing in this area. Firstly, I recognized that throughout the time, population of this area was decreased clearly and the ratio of white people was also decreased. The second point is educational development and this point is also the most effective point of this area. Throughout 1950 to 2010, the ratio of college graduation was increased mostly ( From 19.6% to 29.6% and From 17.7% to 25.9%). This point was the foundation for median household income increasing. From the increasing of income, the median housing value was also increased and make this area becomes more valuable.

Census Analysis (Census Tract 0050/50/178)

The census tract that my blocks reside in started off as tract 0050 in 1950, simplified to simply tract 50 in 2000, and then redefined as tract 178 by 2010. I mentioned in my previous project that the blocks that I analyzed once had two or three rows of homes behind the three large apartment buildings that dominate E. Armour Blvd between Gillham Rd. and Warwick Blvd. Some time in the early to mid-century, those homes were demolished to make way for a massive parking lot. Whether this had anything to do with the overall population of the census tract, I’m not sure, though it could possibly relate to the steep population drop between 1950 (5,972) and 2000 (2,395).

I also discussed in my paper the domination of white residents within the tract, being at 98.76% in 1950, and actually reversing the ratio with white residents making up 39.87% of the tract population and non-white residents making up 57.42% in 2000. I wonder if this could have anything to do with those apartment buildings and surrounding residential plots, and racist/biased leasing policies for the area, though it could also simply be the dispersion of the mere 12.3% of non-white residents that made up Kansas City in 1950 according to the population census.

Census Data Analysis

The block of Armour Road that I had was between, Holmes St. and Campbell St., I noticed that from 1950 to 2010 there haven’t been many new housing units built. But also the fact that Between 1950 and 2010 the population was almost cut in half and same with the percent of housing units occupied. The Growth of the number of whites through the years has changed where there was almost close to the same percentage amount of whites as there were blacks. back in 1950, the Blacks had the majority by almost 20 percent. Also the fact that people of 25 and above made up about 68 percent that only 25 percent of that 68 percent had some college and only 13 people had a doctorate.

Census Analysis Between McGee and Locust

My assigned blocks were off of Armour Boulevard and in between McGee and Locust. The most shocking conclusion that I came to when doing this assignment was the amount of vacant houses in the area. In 1950 only a little over two percent of the housing units were considered vacant, but then jumping to 2010 the number grew to an astounding 40%. There were almost as many vacant houses as there were that were renter occupied. This seems to be a major issue for the area.

Census Analysis

My part of Armour was between Gillman Rd and Cherry St.  The most interesting trend that I saw within my Census data was the changing Median age in my area. In 1950 the median age was 38.1, in 2000 the median age was 32.9, and in 2010 the median age was significantly lower at only 31.5.  As the median age decreased, so did the median income.

Census Data Analysis, 35th St. between Cypress Avenue and Chelsea Drive

The blocks on 35th St. between Cypress Avenue and Chelsea Drive in Kansas City, Missouri resides within census tract 58. These two blocks are fairly sparse with development. There are a handful of residential buildings, (small houses) and one tiny Baptist Church. However, there is mostly just open lots along the road between Cyprus and Chelsea.

Upon looking at the census data for this particular census tract, I found a drastic change in racial composition from 1950 to 2000. In 1950, the population of this census tract was predominantly white. By the year 2000 the census tracts population was made up of over 90% black, and the total population had decreased by 37%. The population decrease doesn’t stop there though. From 2000 to 2010, the census tracts population continues to bleed out, dropping another 49% in just 10 years.

Census Data

I Had the blocks off Armour blvd, from Main St to Warwick. It was interesting to see the largest change happened in population and race with tracts 50 and 51. The population started off in the thousands and quickly dropped to the hundreds as time progressed. In the same tracts looking at race starting at 1950…As soon as more African Americans moved into the area the White population began to decrease.

Baltimore and Walnut Census Data

The census tracts containing Baltimore and Walnut at Armour Boulevard have changed demographically over time. In the 1950’s the whites dominated the neighborhood, while blacks and “others” were small in number. This could have been attributed to the redlining and restrictive covenants of the time. Over time, however, other races would populate the area. In 2000, the neighborhood would drop considerably in population. This makes sense due to the fact that many people (mostly white people) would move further south as the city sprawled. However, the white people would return and the population would rise in 2010.

Chestnut to Agnes Census Analysis

The area on 35th Street between Chestnut and Agnes (Census Tract 56) has transformed from a predominantly White, suburban neighborhood to a predominantly Black, lower income area. In 1950, Tract 56 was reflective of Kansas City as a whole in terms of race, income, and education. However, the 2000 Census shows a very different picture. Tract 56 is no longer representative of Kansas City, which indicates a certain level of segregation between White and Black, between high income and low income, and between the upper class and lower class. Combining this data with observations about how Kansas City is laid out, it is not hard to see the correlation between race and income which could stem from the (still-existing) role of racism during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Euclid to Brooklyn Avenue Census

Blocks Euclid Ave to Brooklyn Ave on 35th street underwent much development from 1950 to 2010. A seemingly quiet residential street next to Highway 71, these blocks changed very dramatically in educational attainment over the years in different ways. In 1950, the percentage of residents with a high school degree was only 31.%, and climbed to 58.4% in 2000. Amazingly, it increased 26.9% in just 10 years, the final percentage of residents with a high school degree being 85.3% in 2010. Unfortunately, the story was not the same with bachelor’s degree recipients. The percentage of residents achieving a bachelor’s degree in 1950 was 7.1%, and peaking at 9.7% in 2000. Sadly, the percentage dropped completely in 2010, settling at 0%.

Agnes Avenue to Benton Boulevard

Analyzing the census data from 1950, 2000, and 2010 for the blocks along 35th Street from Agnes to Benton was an illuminating experience. If I had ever perceived dramatic racial turnover as a myth, here was data and proof that it was not. From 1950 to 2000, the area of Kansas City named Oak Park Northwest, where my blocks are located, went from being almost 100% white to almost 100% African American in their demographic makeup. This was especially interesting, as many of the ideas of racial segregation that we typically think of occur before the 1950s and the historical Brown v. Board case, but here it shows that the 50s instead of desegregation were the beginning of a whole new set of circumstances that prevented integration and equal housing.

Tracy Ave and The Paseo

I studied the section of armour blvd between tracy ave and the paseo. In this area, the most interesting thing I found demographically was the racial shift between 1950 and 2000. In 1950, there were about 5/6,000 whites and 50/60 blacks and by 2000 those numbers had flipped. It is interesting to see in factual data how racism can affect an area and how powerful white flight was and how it still affects our city today.