Saturday, August 31, 2019

Population loss in Colorado: Kiowa County/Eads


It all started here.

Population loss as in major -- 50% or more. 

Source:  Wikipedia (Kiowa County, Eads)


Eads is the county seat of Kiowa County.

Population loss by degrees:  80-90%70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.

Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:
  • 21.0% - Kiowa County
  • 39.4% - Colorado
  • 30.9% - U.S.
Percentage of population 65 and older:
  • 23.4% - Kiowa County
  • 14.2% - Colorado
  • 15.6% - U.S.
% of population living in poverty:
  • 14.0% - Kiowa County
  • 10.3% - Colorado
  • 12.3% - U.S.

The last time a Democratic candidate for president won Kiowa County was in 1964.  Trump won 85.2% of the vote in 2016, best ever showing by a GOP presidential candidate.

Related reading:
The Rural Life, the Towner Tragedy.  (The New York Times, 9/26/2000)
I was in Eads, Colo., recently, just passing through, which is true of nearly everyone who has ever come to Eads. The town lies on a major truck route across southeastern Colorado. 
What Eads takes from that truck route is hard to tell.  A few people stop now and then at Shepp's drive-in on the edge of town. Plastic lambs line the windowsills, and you can read a religious magazine called Guideposts while you wait for lunch, for the full name of Shepp's is the Good Sheppard Inn. 
But only the locals turn off the truck route and onto the main street of Eads. On one side of the street lies the Crow-Luther Arts Center, which used to be the Plains movie theater. Its marquee says, almost ironically, ''THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE FINE ARTS.'' One of the E's has blown sideways in the wind.
 
Other Colorado posts:
Sedgwick County/Julesburg.  (8/28/2019)
Washington County/Akron.  (8/29/2019)
Cheyenne County/Cheyenne Wells.  (8/30/2019)

Other population loss series:

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