The New Ulm area will grow faster than any other community in Region 9 between now and 1990, a study says.

A 6,500 increase in population, with 995 of those people being school age, is projected for the New Ulm school district in 1990 by a Mankato State University report.

The report, released this week by the university’s geography department, indicates that by 1990,the population of many south central Minnesota school districts should stop falling and in most cases rise.

It projects a continuing rapid population increase for New Ulm and the two other larger school districts in Region 9–Mankato and Fairmont–and for school districts in bedroom communities near those cities.

“New Ulm has a very healthy economy,” the report states. “There are many industries, although a significant number of them are farm oriented and as such limited in expansion potential.

“However, there are several businesses that have a good potential to offer more employment in the future because their market area does not depend as much on the surrounding area as do the farm-oriented firms.

“Because of this sound industry base, New Ulm will continue to grow, absorbing surplus farm population from the nearby rural area and from other communities of southern Minnesota.

“New Ulm,””‘he report concludes,”may attract new industries in future years, especially with the completion of Hwy 14 as a four-lane highway.”

T.R. OLSON, Superintendent of New Ulm School District,said the projections of the report seem fairly sound, for projections based generally upon one factor, but he warned that projections are delicate instruments, dependent upon a number of variables.

According to the forecast, the school district’s 1980 population will have increased from 19,487 in 1970 to 22,032 in 1980 and to 25,998 in 1990.

The bulk of this increase will come with people in their early working years-ages 20 to 39- where an increase from 1970 figures of 3,290 is forecast.

But the report projects increases of 600 in the 0-4 age group, 237 in the 5-9 age group and 158 in the 15-19 age group.

The study, labeled the first of its kind for southern Minnesota by university publicists, cites the strength and new trends of agriculture as one of the main reasons for the expected end of the population decline in many school districts.

BRANKO COLAKOVIC project director, said that area farmers are becoming increasingly productive and less dependent on local labor.

But, he added,farmers are relying more on workers in area communities to provide goods and services. The report also cites a reversal in the trend of young people leaving the farm community.

The fastest growing districts, however,will be those with industry that does not rely primarily on local consumption. The New Ulm school district, according to Colakovic, because of the businesses that are more or less independent of the surrounding area, is expected to be the fastest growing school district by 1990, with an 18 per cent increase of total population in the 1980s.

IN ADDITION to agriculture and industry, Colakovic said the study found transportation is an important factor in determining population trends.

Modern transportation,especially highways, can make an important impact on the population trends of local areas by keeping industries, attracting new ones and satisfying people in terms of residential location,” he said.

“Upgrading of Hwy 14 to four-lane status and the completion of U.S. 90 are especially important to communities situated on those routes,” the report states.

The attractiveness of the area also helps keep local people and attract new residents, according to Colakovic.

“Southern Minnesota cities and towns have many social and environmental advantages compared to many other parts of the nation,”he said.

“Human relations are rather encouraging, crime rates are low, schools and other services are of high quality, and pollution problems are not as serious as they are in other parts of the United States.”

New Ulm Daily Journal

Oct. 17, 1975