1920 Fast Facts - History - U.S. Census Bureau (2024)

An official website of the United States government

end of header

You are here: Census.gov › History › Through the Decades › Fast Facts › 1920 Fast Facts

Skip top of page navigation

History Main
Agency History
Innovations
- Data Collection
- Technology
Programs
Through the Decades
Genealogy
- Decennial Census Records
- Other Resources
Reference
Home Page Archive
- 2024
- 2023
- 2022
- 2021
- 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
FAQs

Fast Facts

Also in this Section:

POP Culture: 1920

ICONS: Radio Broadcasting, Charlie Chaplin, Charles Lindbergh

On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified prohibiting any U.S. citizen from being denied the right to vote based on sex.
KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA, becomes the first radio station to offer regular broadcasts on November 2, 1920.
On March 4, 1921, Congress approved the burial of an unidentified American soldier from World War I in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
Lila Bell and DeWitt Wallace begin publishing Reader's Digest in 1922.
F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby in 1925.
Tennessee school teacher John T. Scopes' trial for teaching Darwin's "Theory of Evolution" begins July 1925.
A. A. Milne publishes his first collection of stories about the character Winnie-the-Pooh in 1926.
Charles Lindbergh lands "Spirit of St. Louis" in Paris on May 21, 1927, successfully completing the first trans-Atlantic flight.
Audiences see the first motion picture with sound The Jazz Singer in 1927.
Ford Motor Company celebrates as the 15 millionth Model T rolls off its Highland Park, MI, assembly line on May 26, 1927.
William Faulkner publishes The Sound and the Fury in 1929.

The 1920 Census		10 Largest Urban Places
U.S. Resident Population:	106,021,537	Rank	Place	Population
Population per square mile of land area:	29.9	1	New York City, NY	5,620,048
Percent increase of population from 1910 to 1920:	15.0	2	Chicago, IL	2,701,705
Official Enumeration Date:	January 1	3	Philadelphia, PA	1,823,779
Number of States:	48	4	Detroit, MI	993,078
Cost:	$25,117,000	5	Cleveland, OH	796,841
Cost per Capita (cents):	23.7	6	St. Louis, MO	772,897
Total Pages in Published Reports:	14,550	7	Boston, MA	748,060
Number of Enumerators:	87,234	8	Baltimore, MD	733,826
Census Bureau Director:	Samuel Lyle Rogers	9	Pittsburgh, PA	588,343
Number of Questions Asked:	34	10	Los Angeles, CA	576,673

[an error occurred while processing this directive] This symbol indicates a link to a non-government web site. Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsem*nt of any products, services or the information found on them. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of the new site.