Story County, Iowa 1950 Census

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Story County 1950 Census Records

The 1950 United States Census shows an overall 14.5% increase over the 1940 United States and a 3.3% population increase for Iowa. For Story County, the increase was 30.7%! This can be largely attributed to the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (G.I. Bill) which provided paid education for most World War II veterans. As a result, the population of students and faculty at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) increased dramatically. The population of the Ames swelled by 10,550 people, a 84% increase over 1940. In the 1950 population census, one can see this population housed on campus in dormitories, in Pammel Court (for married student housing), in lodging facilities, and many as lodgers in private homes.

The 1950 census microfilm images were made available by the National Archives and Records Administration on April 1, 2022. The microfilm images and other information are for Story County, Iowa are located here. Each census sheet contains 30 lines for information on each inhabitant. As the enumerator recorded, entries were made for empty homes and for homes where nobody as at home at the time of the census. For each enumeration district, the maximum number of sheets were 70, except that when the enumerator went back to record people missed the first time the information was entered on sheets number 71 and higher. Thus you may see as in Collins town the sheet number going frrom 13 to 71 on the next sheet.

This is the seventeenth federal census and represents the ninth federal census enumerated for Story County after its formation. The effective date of the census was April 1, 1950. Errors may have been introduced by the census taker or during transcription. The extensive instructions for enumerators are available in at this site.

This transcription contains an abstract of the data. Special focus on ensuring the names are correct. If you locate a people of interest the images are readily available for free online.

The transcribed 1950 Census data is comprised of:

Sheet Number. Shown at the top of each census page view as well as with each individual. Under heading "Sh". Sheet numbers begin with 1 for each enumeration district, go up to 70 sheets, then 71 and above used for second attempts to collect data.
Enumeration District Number (ED). Shown at the top of each census page view, the enumeration district numbers change with each district within Story County. For Story County there are 59 ED numbers, running from 85-1 through 85-56 and including 85-17A, 85-17B, 85-17C and 85-17D.
Township, Town, Ward, Institution. This location information is shown at the top of each census page view and in summary name search results. This may include places such as hotels.
Enumerator's Name. Shown at the top of each census page view.
Line Number. Line number within the page. These run from 1 to 30. Lines indicating place not lived in or people not home are omitted, as well as any blank lines.Under heading "Ln".
House Number. Associated when present within each census location. Under heading "No".
Street. Associated when present within each census location. In one township the section number is given here. Under heading "St".
Dwelling Number or Farm Numbered within each census location. Under heading "Dw".
Farm Schedule Number. For farms, this is the number of the Farm Schedule which collects more information about the farm. Under heading "Farm No".
Name. I have separated the surname from the given names so the surname can be used for searching. The surname is displayed capitalized.
Relationship to Head of Family. Head, wife, son, daughter, etc.
Sex.
Race.
Age. This is person's the age as of the last birthday as of April 1, 1950. If they were born within the prior year, the month of birth is recorded, e.g., Feb.
Marital Status. Mar=Married, Wd=Widowed, D=Divorced, Nev=Never Married. Under heading "Status"
Place of Birth. Place names are have been standardized (such as spelling out full state name instead of copy abbreviations) unless the name is ambiguous.

The following information is included in the transcription but is not taken directly from the census:

AKA Surname. This is believed to the correct surname based upon the transcriber or proofer's analysis. The intent is to increase the opportunities of finding somebody in a surname search even though their name may have been recorded incorrectly in the census. This is shown after the person's name as aka.
AKA Source. The source of the AKA Source. 1877 Dir (for 1877 Story County Directory); 1885 Cen (for 1885 census); 1895 Cen (for 1895 Story County census); 1905 Cen (for 1905 Story County Census); 1950 Cen (for 1950 Story County Census); Birth Rec (For Story County birth records); Cem Rec (for Story County cemetery or grave marker records); Death Cert (for Story County death certificates); Div Rec (for Story County divorce records); Ed Guess (for educated guess); Mar Rec (for Story County marriage records); Obit (for obituary), etc.
Transcriber name. Shown at the top of the census page view.
Proofer name. Shown at the top of the census page view if proofed.

Information not included with the transcription includes:

Street Name
House Number
Whether a Farm or Ranch
Whether if not Farm is more than 3 acres
Whether naturalized
What doing most of last week
Any work last week not around the house
Looking for work?
If not working last week still has a job
How many hours worked last week
What kind of work
Work in what industry
Class of worker

Finally, six random people on each sheet were selected for additional questions such as schooling, earnings and U.S. Armed Forces serving during a war.

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