publications well before the Civil War. For example, in 1846, The New England Gazetteer’s entry on Boston stated the following:
“Owing to the almost insular situation of Boston, and its limited extent, its population appears small. But it must be considered that the neighboring towns of Quincy, Dorchester, Milton, Roxbury, Brookline, Brighton, Watertown, Cambridge, Charlestown, Medford, Malden, and Chelsea, although not included in the city charter, are component parts of the city, and are as much associated with it in all its commercial, manufacturing, literary, and social relations and feelings, as Greenwich, Manhattanville, and Harlem are with the city of New York; or Southwark and the Northern Liberties with Philadelphia.”[1]
The first extensive attempt by the Census Bureau to define areas based on the metropolitan concept was the identification of industrial districts for the Census of Manufactures of 1905, which showed such districts for New York, Chicago, Boston, and St. Louis. The Census Bureau gave official recognition to the metropolitan concept for decennial census purposes when it defined metropolitan districts for the 1910 census. These metropolitan districts were defined on a nationwide basis for cities having populations of at least 100,000. The Census Bureau defined metropolitan districts again for the 1920 census, applying the same criteria that had been used in 1910. Metropolitan districts again were defined for the 1930 and 1940 censuses, but the criteria were modified for these censuses so that metropolitan districts for cities with minimum populations of 50,000 would be recognized. There were 96 metropolitan districts for the 1930 census, and 140 metropolitan districts for the 1940 census.
Throughout the period 1910 through 1940, the Census Bureau defined metropolitan districts in terms of minor civil divisions (MCDs)—county subdivisions such as townships or election districts—and determined their boundaries primarily based on population density.[2] The use of MCDs proved suitable for census data presentation. However, few agencies or organizations outside the Census Bureau compiled data for MCDs. As a result, Federal, State, local, and private statistical groups could not readily prepare data and conduct socioeconomic analyses using the metropolitan district as a statistical base. By World War II, some of these groups developed alternative metropolitan definitions in terms of whole counties that
Notes and References
- ↑ John Hayward, The New England Gazetteer, 48th edition; Boston: John Hayward, 1846.
- ↑ The official definitions and populations of the metropolitan districts may be found in U.S. Bureau of Census, Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, Vol. I, p. 73 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1911); Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, Vol. I, pp. 62–71 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1921); Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Metropolitan Districts, Population and Area (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1932); Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, Vol. I, p. 11 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1942). For a summary, see U.S. Bureau of the Census, The Growth of Metropolitan Districts in the United States: 1900–1940, [by Warren S. Thompson] (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1947).
Metropolitan Areas13-3
