3.22.2001
Population surges in Rte. 495 corridor
The Census numbers are out for the Bay State, and they also show slow growth around aging mill cities such as Fall River and New Bedford.

BY PAUL EDWARD PARKER and DAVID HERZOG
Journal Staff Writers

Most Massachusetts towns along Route 495, where it skirts the Rhode Island border, grew faster than the rest of the Bay State during the past decade, according to federal Census figures released yesterday.

While that high-tech region saw explosive growth in the 1990s, the areas around the aging mill cities in Southeastern Massachusetts grew slower than the statewide average, according to the Census.

Overall, the high-tech boom at the northern end of Bristol County canceled out the languid pace in the southern end. The county as a whole grew at a rate of 5.6 percent from 1990 to 2000, mirroring the statewide rate of 5.5 percent.

The Census Bureau released the figures yesterday afternoon as part of its state-by-state rollout of results from the 2000 Census. The bureau has an April 1 deadline to release data for all the states, which will use the numbers to redraw political boundaries, such as congressional districts.

The figures for Massachusetts show that it is becoming more racially diverse, as the number of minorities rose and the number of white non-Hispanics dropped. Statewide, some 2.3 percent of the 6.3 million people said they were multi-racial.

Next week, the Census Bureau is expected to release similar population data for Rhode Island.

Most of the state's growth -- considering sheer numbers alone -- came from the Boston suburbs. Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk and Plymouth counties accounted for 58 percent of the state's population growth.

Elsewhere in the state, populations jumped in traditional summer-vacation spots that are becoming home to increasing numbers of year-round residents.

Cape Cod and the Islands had the fastest growth during the 1990s, according to the census. The population of Barnstable County, which encompasses Cape Cod, topped 200,000. The count was more than 222,000, up from nearly 187,000 in 1990, an increase of 19 percent.

Seven of the state's 10 biggest cities grew, but their increases tended to be slower than the state's. Boston's population rose to 589,000 from 574,000 in 1990, for a 2.6 percent increase. Fall River and New Bedford, the two largest cities in Bristol County, lost population.

New Bedford's population dropped the most, 6.2 percent. In the 2000 Census, it was near 94,000, down from almost 100,000 in 1990. Fall River's population slipped almost 1 percent to nearly 92,000.

Growth patterns in Bristol County generally followed the high-tech industry, with a few exceptions, according to Gregory J. Guimond, a planner with the Southeastern Regional Planning and Development District, a regional planning agency.

In the 1990s, computer companies settled into the Route 495 corridor, roughly between the Massachusetts Turnpike on the north and Route 95 on the south.

"That has been the major growth corridor," Guimond said. "Almost every interchange as you go up there has an industrial park."

As their employers nestled close to the highway to provide easy access, employees fanned out into the towns along the highway. But, Guimond said, that growth was not on both sides of the interstate. "The growth has been coming down and toward our region."

During a previous cycle of economic growth, the communities north of Route 495 had been extensively developed, leaving residential land scarce -- and pricier. So employees of the high-tech firms spreading along Route 495 looked to the south, Guimond said. "Prices are lower and the land is more available."

So, many communities between Route 495 and the Rhode Island border saw growth rates several times the state average. Mansfield grew 35.3 percent in the 1990s; Norton grew 26.4 percent; Franklin grew 33.8 percent; Douglas grew 29.6 percent.

Guimond noted one Bristol County community whose explosive growth cannot be entirely attributed to the high-tech boom. Berkley, a town on the east bank of the Taunton River, north of Fall River and Freetown, saw an increase of 35.7 percent. Guimond said this is because, until recently, Berkley had no zoning laws to regulate land use. This made land in Berkley more attractive to developers, who could build more houses per acre there than in other communities.

Even now, Berkley's zoning laws are in the early stages of development, according to Guimond. In other communities, such as Dighton and Rehoboth, the availability of land combined with less sophisticated zoning has also led to growth, he said. Rehoboth's population climbed 17.5 percent and Dighton's 9.7.

Meanwhile, a second facet of the high-tech industry throttled down growth in Fall River and New Bedford and the areas surrounding these southern Bristol County cities, according to Guimond.

Just as French-Canadian and then Portuguese immigrants once flocked to the area's mills, so Asian and Russian immigrants now are filling the entry-level ranks of high-tech employers. But, Fall River and New Bedford have lagged behind other Massachusetts cities in computer industry jobs, Guimond said.

That means that population growth, with a shift toward Asian immigrants, found in other Massachusetts cities in the 1990s did not materialize in places such as Fall River, Guimond said. The number of Asians grew by 68 percent statewide.

As an example, the city of Quincy saw a modest 3.6 percent increase in population. Meanwhile, the Asian community erupted, increasing by 143 percent. In 1990, Asians and Pacific Islanders represented 6.5 percent of Quincy's population. In 2000, that rose to 15.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Fall River saw a slight decline in its overall population, with the Asian community remaining relatively stable. In 1990, Asians and Pacific Islanders represented 1.3 percent of the city's population. In 2000, that had risen to 2.2 percent.

Hispanics helped to fuel the state's population growth.

Statewide, the Hispanic population increased to nearly 429,000, an increase of about 50 percent from the 288,000 counted in 1990. Hispanic origin is considered an ethnic, not a racial, category by the Census.

Suffolk County, which includes Boston, had the greatest number of Hispanics: more than 107,000, an increase of 47 percent from the 73,000 counted in 1990.

Hispanics registered population increases in the counties abutting Rhode Island, the Census figures show. In Worcester County, the number of Hispanics rose to more than 51,000 from nearly 33,000 in 1990, a 54-percent increase.

In Bristol County, the Census counted far fewer Hispanics, more than 19,000 up from nearly 14,000 in 1990, an increase of 42 percent.

Around half of the county's Hispanics -- nearly 10,000 -- were concentrated in New Bedford.

The numbers of all minority-group members counted in the Census grew, while the number of white non-Hispanics dropped by 82,000 people, or 1.6 percent, the Census reported.

In the 2000 Census, residents could for the first time pick more than one racial affiliation. More than 146,000 people, or 2.3 percent of the population, said they were multi-racial.

At nearly 6 percent, New Bedford had the highest proportion of multi-racial residents of the state's largest cities, the Census data say.

In this Census, 5.47 million or 84.7 percent of the population defined itself as white only. In 1990, when residents had to choose one of five races, 54 million, or 89.8 percent, said they were white.

More than 343,000 people, or 5.4 percent of the population, said they were black only. In 1990, 300,000 or 5 percent said they were black.

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