Perry County, Indiana

[jimrtex]

One thing of particular interest was the low educational attainment of Perry County adults, which was 8.8 grades in 1960, among the bottom half-dozen counties in the state.  This may have been exacerbated by a lack of adults in their 20s and 30s who would have been of high school age at the time that a high school education was becoming more typical.  If a person with a high school education moves away, the education level of those who remain is lowered.  In 1950, it was particularly noticeable that girls were much more likely to have completed 4 years of high school, while boys more commonly had completed 1-3 years.

This is true even today. The percentage of adults (aged 25+) who have completed high school in Perry, Dubois, and Crawford Counties (to name just three for comparison) is roughly the same (around 80-85%) for 2007-2011 (Census figures), but the number of adults (aged 25+) who have graduated from college is significantly lower in  Perry (8.9%) than in Dubois (19.7%), and somewhat lower than in Crawford (12.5%) for 2007-2011.

Perhaps the very small number of people over the age of 25 with a Bachelor's degree (or higher) means there's less of a strong local business, professional, or more broadly white-collar community in Perry that would be not just influential in providing some Republican votes, but also in influencing the political culture of the rest of the county?

Tell City was never a significant river port.  It only had about 2000 persons in 1890.  Cannelton was the county seat until some time in the 20th century.  It is not prime farm land, it is an upland area.  You want to go east or west for that.  So there would be little need for but a modest commercial sector.

In 1950, 11% of elementary students in Perry County were in private schools, compared to 21% in Dubois County.  Presumably these were parochial (Catholic) schools.  The Catholic School in Tell City closed in 1999.  It is possible that there wasn't a Catholic high school.  If not, then many students might not switch after 8th grade.

[jimrtex]

In 1970, the average educational attainment for those 25 and older was up to 9.9, which was 3rd lowest in the state, behind Crawford and Switzerland.   Statewide it was 12.1.  16.7% of children were in private schools, but this still lagged Dubois where the percentage was around 25%.  Total fertility was 3.3 which was somewhat high, but in Dubois it was 3.7.

There were 74 blacks in Oil Township, all male and almost all between 15 and 19, and a large number in group quarters, but not inmates of an institution.   There were 9 blacks in the rest of the county.  Since this is in the national forest area, it might have been some sort of boot camp, rather than a prison.  There is a prison in Perry County, Branchville Correctional Facility, but it was not established until 1982.

Civilian unemployment was 7.1%, which was in the top 10, and 3.0% over the state average.  Percentage of labor force in manufacturing was 47.5%, versus a statewide average of 35.9%.  Percentage in white-collar occupations was 27.5%, vs a statewide average of 42.1%, and was among the lowest half dozen.  Government employment of 12.7% was identical to the statewide average.

Employment within the county of residence was fairly low (13.3%), but this had a wide range from 3.0% in Allen (Fort Wayne), and 3.8% in Marion (Indianapolis) to 61.7% in Brown and 60.0% in Ohio.  So it had the characteristic of an urban center that could provide its own jobs, and was too isolated to permit easy commuting.  With a heavy manufacturing concentration in a county with 18,000 persons, you have high economic vulnerability.

[Badger]

Down on the Ohio river, it sticks out like a sore thumb on most election maps. Obama won over 60% of the vote there in 08. Heck, even Kerry narrowly won it. Even in 12 Obama won it by several points.

I can't begin to figure out why. From a brief glance on Wikipedia it's a largely rural county of not quite 20,000 with a negligible non-white population. It's income levels appear comparable to its neighbors who vote markedly more Republican. Nor is there any university or other major state institution mentioned that would maybe encourage locals to vote Democratic. Which they do at a rate about 10-20 points more than neighboring counties.

Any observations here? Tough to think that somehow southern Indiana Copperhead Democratic tradition somehow held on in a single county.

[ElectionsGuy]

I find it odd too. All I know is that this county has always been more democratic than the average for that area. It is also in that Southern Indiana/Western Kentucky area that's been pretty historically democratic and part of the Clinton south. Its more or less like Elliot County, KY: an area that's been trending republican (though not nearly as much as Eastern Kentucky/Southern West Virginia) but there's one last dot that still sticks out.

But oddly this county was pretty similar to its neighbors a decade or two ago, but this county still votes like it used to, while the others drifted off to the republicans.

[Badger]

Bump (Since I unintentionally started a new thread on the same topic just now).

So it seems Perry County's continuing Democratic tradition compared to it's neighbors relies much on the following:

Low Catholic pop compared to neighbors. (If anyone wants to see the effect abortion and other social issues had on the voting habits of previously Democratic German-Catholics, see Mercer County, Ohio).

Low influx of population which reduces the change in traditional practices (though I'm not sure why this wouldn't also apply much to Perry's equally isolated off the beaten path neighbors....)

High manufacturing employment and lower college education levels, leaving a largely blue collar union-friendly workforce light on Republican-friendly white collar types. I suspect the prison there Jim mentioned also employs a disproportionate share of the locals in union jobs.

And....? That certainly helps explain things in part. But I'm still having trouble seeing how these factors alone would be enough to create the whopping 10-20 point voting gap between Perry and it's nearby neighbors.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Bump (Since I unintentionally started a new thread on the same topic just now).

So it seems Perry County's continuing Democratic tradition compared to it's neighbors relies much on the following:

Low Catholic pop compared to neighbors. (If anyone wants to see the effect abortion and other social issues had on the voting habits of previously Democratic German-Catholics, see Mercer County, Ohio).

Low influx of population which reduces the change in traditional practices (though I'm not sure why this wouldn't also apply much to Perry's equally isolated off the beaten path neighbors....)

High manufacturing employment and lower college education levels, leaving a largely blue collar union-friendly workforce light on Republican-friendly white collar types. I suspect the prison there Jim mentioned also employs a disproportionate share of the locals in union jobs.

And....? That certainly helps explain things in part. But I'm still having trouble seeing how these factors alone would be enough to create the whopping 10-20 point voting gap between Perry and it's nearby neighbors.

Another theory is that TV and talk radio reception are very poor.

[All Along The Watchtower]

While the population of Perry County was relatively steady during the 20th century, there was a significant increase in the population of Tell City, and a decline in the rural population.

(1890-1930) by township:

Anderson -40%
Clark -34%
Leopold -30%
Oil -32%
Tobin -40%
Union -45%
Troy (non-city): -23%
Tell City: +133%
Cannelton: +14%
Troy: +1%

In the 1930's, the rural townships had a small uptick in population, while Tell City continued to grow.

Perry County had a significant Belgian population, roughly equivalent to the Swiss population, and apparently of the same vintage:

1900: Foreign-born, Germany 730; Switzerland 149; Belgium 143.
1910: Germany 435, Switzerland 99, Belgium 97.
1920: Germany 187, Switzerland 62, Belgium 57.
1940: Germany 45, Switzerland 7, Belgium 7.

This would suggest a birth around 1840-1860, with emigration around the time of the US Civil War (the longest living may have been children when they migrated).  I don't know whether it was this Belgian population (Walloon?) that has somehow transmogrified into a tradition of being French.

In 1940, 1/3 of the workforce was in agriculture, with about 1/5 involved in furniture manufacturer.  I think the labor strife in the 1990s may be an important factor.  After an 8-month strike in 1994, another strike in 1996 caused the company to go under.

Perry County has an extremely white population (99.9% in 1940).  This is quite different from Evansville and New Albany (opposite Louisville).  So it is possible that Perry County is somewhat dissimilar from other other southern Indiana counties, in not being populated from people coming through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and then moving north of the Ohio River.  Abraham Lincoln grew up in Spencer County, from ages 7 to 21, just to the west of Perry County.   "Hoosier" may  be derived from the term used for mountain folk in the Cumberland dialect of England (many "Scotch-Irish" actually came from south of the border).  Migrants from Kentucky would favor the better agricultural lands along the Wabash and the lowlands to the east (see Indiana presidential map for 1896, 1916, 1940, and 1952 (if you look closely).  This may have masked Perry County as being distinctive.

Perry County does have a Benedictine Archabbey.  This indicates at least some Catholic presence, but probably not the French-ancestry in the population, unless some of inmates were monkeying around.

I'm bumping this excellent thread, because I have found some confirmation that French-speaking Catholics from southern Belgium/Luxembourg area (Walloon) were among Perry County's  mid-19th century settlers. They even named a town in the county, "Leopold." Surely this is significant?

[jimrtex]

While the population of Perry County was relatively steady during the 20th century, there was a significant increase in the population of Tell City, and a decline in the rural population.

(1890-1930) by township:

Anderson -40%
Clark -34%
Leopold -30%
Oil -32%
Tobin -40%
Union -45%
Troy (non-city): -23%
Tell City: +133%
Cannelton: +14%
Troy: +1%

In the 1930's, the rural townships had a small uptick in population, while Tell City continued to grow.

Perry County had a significant Belgian population, roughly equivalent to the Swiss population, and apparently of the same vintage:

1900: Foreign-born, Germany 730; Switzerland 149; Belgium 143.
1910: Germany 435, Switzerland 99, Belgium 97.
1920: Germany 187, Switzerland 62, Belgium 57.
1940: Germany 45, Switzerland 7, Belgium 7.

This would suggest a birth around 1840-1860, with emigration around the time of the US Civil War (the longest living may have been children when they migrated).  I don't know whether it was this Belgian population (Walloon?) that has somehow transmogrified into a tradition of being French.

In 1940, 1/3 of the workforce was in agriculture, with about 1/5 involved in furniture manufacturer.  I think the labor strife in the 1990s may be an important factor.  After an 8-month strike in 1994, another strike in 1996 caused the company to go under.

Perry County has an extremely white population (99.9% in 1940).  This is quite different from Evansville and New Albany (opposite Louisville).  So it is possible that Perry County is somewhat dissimilar from other other southern Indiana counties, in not being populated from people coming through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and then moving north of the Ohio River.  Abraham Lincoln grew up in Spencer County, from ages 7 to 21, just to the west of Perry County.   "Hoosier" may  be derived from the term used for mountain folk in the Cumberland dialect of England (many "Scotch-Irish" actually came from south of the border).  Migrants from Kentucky would favor the better agricultural lands along the Wabash and the lowlands to the east (see Indiana presidential map for 1896, 1916, 1940, and 1952 (if you look closely).  This may have masked Perry County as being distinctive.

Perry County does have a Benedictine Archabbey.  This indicates at least some Catholic presence, but probably not the French-ancestry in the population, unless some of inmates were monkeying around.

I'm bumping this excellent thread, because I have found some confirmation that French-speaking Catholics from southern Belgium/Luxembourg area (Walloon) were among Perry County's  mid-19th century settlers. They even named a town in the county, "Leopold." Surely this is significant?

Building of Leopold

[All Along The Watchtower]

While the population of Perry County was relatively steady during the 20th century, there was a significant increase in the population of Tell City, and a decline in the rural population.

(1890-1930) by township:

Anderson -40%
Clark -34%
Leopold -30%
Oil -32%
Tobin -40%
Union -45%
Troy (non-city): -23%
Tell City: +133%
Cannelton: +14%
Troy: +1%

In the 1930's, the rural townships had a small uptick in population, while Tell City continued to grow.

Perry County had a significant Belgian population, roughly equivalent to the Swiss population, and apparently of the same vintage:

1900: Foreign-born, Germany 730; Switzerland 149; Belgium 143.
1910: Germany 435, Switzerland 99, Belgium 97.
1920: Germany 187, Switzerland 62, Belgium 57.
1940: Germany 45, Switzerland 7, Belgium 7.

This would suggest a birth around 1840-1860, with emigration around the time of the US Civil War (the longest living may have been children when they migrated).  I don't know whether it was this Belgian population (Walloon?) that has somehow transmogrified into a tradition of being French.

In 1940, 1/3 of the workforce was in agriculture, with about 1/5 involved in furniture manufacturer.  I think the labor strife in the 1990s may be an important factor.  After an 8-month strike in 1994, another strike in 1996 caused the company to go under.

Perry County has an extremely white population (99.9% in 1940).  This is quite different from Evansville and New Albany (opposite Louisville).  So it is possible that Perry County is somewhat dissimilar from other other southern Indiana counties, in not being populated from people coming through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and then moving north of the Ohio River.  Abraham Lincoln grew up in Spencer County, from ages 7 to 21, just to the west of Perry County.   "Hoosier" may  be derived from the term used for mountain folk in the Cumberland dialect of England (many "Scotch-Irish" actually came from south of the border).  Migrants from Kentucky would favor the better agricultural lands along the Wabash and the lowlands to the east (see Indiana presidential map for 1896, 1916, 1940, and 1952 (if you look closely).  This may have masked Perry County as being distinctive.

Perry County does have a Benedictine Archabbey.  This indicates at least some Catholic presence, but probably not the French-ancestry in the population, unless some of inmates were monkeying around.

I'm bumping this excellent thread, because I have found some confirmation that French-speaking Catholics from southern Belgium/Luxembourg area (Walloon) were among Perry County's  mid-19th century settlers. They even named a town in the county, "Leopold." Surely this is significant?

Building of Leopold

Thanks for the article, interesting stuff.