13,680.

For many years I have driven out from Marshall in almost every direction. Many times it has been a trip to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Orchestra or the Guthrie Theater.

Trips in the other direction to Sioux Falls have been more related to shopping and for health issues at medical facilities there. Heading north to Willmar and other towns to see relatives or for special dinners or occasions. South on U.S. 59 to Garvin Park and visiting friends has also been in the works — loved to pick wild raspberries in the southern part of Lyon County along the river banks.

Each trip brought me back eventually to Marshall and I would see the sign with 13,680 that was the claim of the population of the city according to the 2010 census.

When asked about Marshall by friends and relatives not from Marshall about the town in itself, I often answered that an old census listed it with a population of 13,680. I then continued to say that, “by now, I suppose that it is something over 14,000.” My evidence for this was that I noted lots of new construction.

Six years ago I moved from the “north” part of town on Elm Street to the southwestern part of town. One street that is near where I live now is Elizabeth Street, for example. On that street just THIS year there have been at least five new houses built. The year before that I believe there were at least a different five. Further, just one street away was another new street that put up four duplexes during that time. Just a block away were two new apartment buildings not far from St. Stephen church.

Another area of town that has had new homes is around the streets named after foreign capitals: Madrid, London, Athens, Dublin, etc. Not only that, but I have watched the area between South Saratoga and U.S. Highway 59 and seen many single and multiple family buildings going up. In a very recent section around Patriot Park are quite a few new homes and all with three-car garages except one. The exception was a duplex that had two double garages. Now clearly that should have indicated an increase in population.

Further, I had heard “back when” of the need for expansion of the schools to accommodate more students. Let’s see: More housing, another city park (Patriot), new schools – doesn’t that seem like evidence of more people for the city?

KABOOM! The Marshall Independent blew my theory of the gain in population to smithereens with its reporting on Friday of the latest census data that showed that the city had not gained, but had actually dropped in population from 13,680 down to 13,628, a loss of 52!. Apparently the decrease may have had to do with COVID-19 and a difference as well in the enrollment at SMSU.

jtr

Of course one of the needs for the census is to determine how we elect representatives to our various governmental offices. We will now enter a period of trying to resolve the questions related to that.

Sort of coincidentally, on Friday, the final question on Jeopardy was related to elections, namely, a question honoring three women who were involved in getting the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution approved (women’s voting rights). The current Jeopardy champion completing his 18th week is Matt Amodio. The battle on Friday pitted him against a person who had ended regular play at exactly half the amount that Matt had. If she had bet it all, she would have tied the champ. Matt was more cautious than I had seen him in earlier episodes. His bet was just $1. If he was right, he would win. If she had bet it all and he had been wrong, he would have been defeated. Fortunately for him, she did not get the correct answer, but he was the only one of the three contestants who did know the answer. He ended the program with a total of $574,801 for his 18 week stay.

The answer to the question was that a 14 foot tall bronze monument of Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had been dedicated in August 2020 in New York City’s Central Park: Women’s Rights Pioneer Monument to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment.

It should be noted that the monument is the first and only monument honoring real women in that park.

The planning and fund raising for the monument began back in 2017 and involved numerous organizations and consultations in addition to the actual creation of the monument. A monument of this size and scope often takes more than three years. The sculptor is Meredith Bergmann.

Matt, incidentally, is currently the third highest winning contestant of Jeopardy. He is a 30-year-old PhD candidate in Computer Science at Yale.

Also of note is that since Jeopardy has been using many new faces as hosts and has matched the winnings in such a way to donate funds to charity, over $3 million dollars has been donated since the death of Alex Trebek.

Until next time: Oh, Fiddlesticks!