UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, April 6, 1993
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POPULATION CHANGE,1980 to 1990
Hawaii overall population rose 4.8 percent from 1980 to 1990. However, 79 of the state's 105 counties experienced a decline in population. This map shows percent change; black counties gained population, and gray counties declined.
Leaving rural Kansas
Story continued from Page 1.
But not having anything to do in small towns is a common complaint from college students who grew up there. A common conception of rural life consists of kids filling themselves with beer and going cow tipping.
pace, for example. Sharon Springs. Its movie theater offers one show a week. Minneapolis, Kan., like many towns, does not even have a theater anymore. Residents like Mark Allison, a redshirt freshman on the Kansas football team, have to drive 30 miles to neighboring Salina if they want to take in a movie. That leaves children with little to do on a Friday night.
Dobbie Winckler grew up in Lucas, population 452,
before she came to KU. She graduated in 1990. She says
that after living in Lawrence, she realized she would be
limited socially if she returned to a small town. Now she is a teacher in El Dorado, which has a population of 11,500 and is about 20 miles northeast of Wichita.
"There's not many people to go out with," she says of laughs. It has only one cafe and one bar.
While the social life in small towns is a factor in why students don't go back after college, most KU students who were asked about returning to rural Kansas said it wasn't the dull life that turned them away. There just are not any jobs if they do return, they say.
New jobs in Kansas have become increasingly concentrated in urban areas, according to research conducted by Dan Roehler, a KU research associate who works for the institute for Public Policy and Business Research. From 1985 to 1989, nearly 94 percent of all new jobs were in nine kansas counties. The remaining 96 counties shared the other 6 percent, only 7,400 new jobs.
The migration of people to the cities surged in the 1980s because of economic problems — problems that hit the hardest in rural areas, Johnson says. Small towns in Kansas have suffered through farming and banking crises and high unemployment. Increased agricultural productivity has reduced the amount of farmers needed to feed the nation.
"The diminishing requirements for labor on farms is the primary reason why population is declining." Johnson said.
Roehler agrees that increased agricultural productivity was a major cause for Kansas' small town woes. But other factors are involved.
In the 1970s, industries relocated to small towns because of reduced labor costs. In the 1980s, those factories relocated again to places where the labor was even cheaper: Mexico and overseas.
Wal-Mart has been another enemy of small-town merchants, rural economists say. Small-town businesses cannot afford to compete with Wal-Mart's low prices, nor do they offer the wide range of products. Rural townpeople just hop in their cars and drive 60 miles to save a buck instead of shopping at the corner grocery store.
Dean Thaemert runs Thaemert's Grocery Store in Syllan Grove, population 321. To stay competitive with Wal-Mart, he says, he works hard on his meat and produce sections because everybody has canned goods. He also tries to maintain a good rapport with the public to keep their dollars in town.
Nevertheless, he says, "I think you could give it away, and
One thing he says helps his business is Sylvan Grove's high school. Other communities have been hurt when schools have been forced to consolidate.
righn school sporting events bring in revenue to restaurants and stores. A community also is less likely to attract industries if employees' children have nowhere to go to school. And when young people do not return, there are no families to support the schools that do exist.
Employment in Kansas has become increasingly concentrated in urban areas. From 1985 to 1990, 94 percent of all new jobs were added in nine metropolitan areas, with remaining 96 other counties shared the rest of the new jobs.
they would still go to the city."
"You take a school out of a community, you're sunk," Thaemay said.
The future looks grim for most small towns in Kansas.
The future looks grim for most small towns in Kansas.
"I think it unlikely we'll see substantial inflows of young adults to rural areas," Johnson says. "I think if the economy recovers, we could see the outflow slow in rural areas."
Towns that have been able to reverse the trend are those near tourist attractions and recreation centers, such as lakes. One entity that is responsible for growth in rural areas is the farm, Johnson, Johnson says. Another is the meat-packing industry.
But so far, college-age people continue to get out of Dodge any way they can.
When young residents in these small towns go away to college, never to return, they contribute to a cycle that is sucking the lifeblood out of rural communities.
Some steps are being taken by residents of small towns to slow the urban exodus. Smith Center's movie theater was about to go out of business seven years ago when concerned residents developed a plan to purchase the theater. They went through the community and sold shares of stock to individuals.
"In theory, the stock was a donation," pharmacist Bill Hawes says.
No dividends are awarded, and all profits are reinvested into the theater. The business has run continuously since, and Hawes called it a community asset.
In Belleville, a $1.1 million medical clinic was built by the North Central Kansas Health Care Foundation from state and local funds to help attract doctors to this town of 2,517 people. Ed Siphil, a local banker, said the plan was developed because competition among small towns for general practitioners was so severe.
Splichal is one of several on the foundation's board who travels to the KU Medical Center to actively recruit medical students. Prospective doctors are guaranteed a first-year income of $100,000. Malpractice insurance, continuing education insurance and moving expenses also are paid by the foundation.
The quality of life in small towns is what Splichal tries to sell recruits. Parents do not have to worry about gangs or drive-by shootings.
"Everything's too fast in the cities," he says. "I like to relax. I grew up on a farm where money wasn't plentiful anyway, so money doesn't bother me."
But others agree with Rains, the KU student from the small town of Sharon Springs. There is nothing for them to return to.
Not all KU students plan to head for the bright lights and big cities.
Allison says he will return to a small town like his home in Minneapolis, Kan., despite the possibility of making more money in a city.
"If I were going to stay there, I wouldn't have come to college," he says.
Photos by Rachel G. Thompson
The post office is the sole attraction on Abbyville's Main Street.
JOBS NINE COUNTIES: 96 PERCENT
Nine metro area counties:
- Leavenworth, Wwandotte, Johnson,
  Miami (Kansas City area)
- Douglas (Lawrence)
- Shawnee (Topeka)
- Butter, Harvey and Sedgwick
  (Wichita area)
New jobs, 1985 to 1990
110,700 Nine metro counties
7,400 96 other countie
Job creation rate, 1980 to 1990
25. 5%
Metro counties
Source: Institute for Public Policy and Business Research
PEOPLE THE YOUNG ARE GETTING RESTLESS
Percent of Kansas population that is 20-24 years old in rural counties*
During the 1980's, many young adults in the 20-24 year old age group left their homes in rural Kansas.
*Forty-five counties in Kansas do not have a town of more than 2,500 people. These counties are classified as rural by the U.S. Census.
1980 6.6%
1990 3.1%
Source: U.S. Census
Leaving home
Here are five rural counties that a large segment of the 20-24 year-old population left during the 1980's.
1980 1990
Barker 449 173
Cheyenne 215 89
Graham 270 81
Morris 400 215
Osborne 397 138
University of Kansas graduate Debbie Winckler grew up in Lucas, population 452, before she came to KU. After graduation she decided to move to El Dorado, population 11,500, to teach elementary school. She is shown here with her seventh grade class.
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