My scanning of the 1968 General Plan for Dryden hit a barrier with the Population section, which combined lots of graphs with tables of census data that weren't quite as exciting as the maps of land use in the Town.
I've now posted the Population section of the plan (1642KB PDF, or 2132KB PDF selectable). I can't say most of it's that exciting, but there are some pieces worth quoting:
Two factors having a decided effect on the population size, age and distribution in Dryden will be the continued growth in the region, notably Cornell on the west and the South Cortland industrial complex on the east, and the final alignment of the Route 13 arterial. The student body at Cornell is expected to increase to 20,000 by 1980 and emphasis is to be placed on growth at the graduate level. This will mean somewhat older students, many with families, and a greater number of faculty. Eventually the eastside of the town of Ithaca will become saturated and new home building will logically move on into the adjacent towns of Dryden and Lansing. Cornell owned properties along the Dryden-Ithaca boundary will have to be leap-frogged but this has not greatly inhibited development to date. Undoubtedly, Cornell expansion will result in a future increase in Dryden's population just as it has been affecting it for the past fifteen years.
On the other side of town is the growing industrial complex on Routes 13 and 281 in South Cortland. Continued growth here could result in increased residential develop- ment in the northeastern part of Dryden and the village of Dryden. Finally, the relocation of Route 13 through the town could have a pronounced effect on future population growth by opening up new land for both housing and commerce and tying potential residential areas to regional work centers by a high-speed limited access highway.
The Cornell growth seems to have happened, but the industrial growth in South Cortland stalled (fortunately, there's still industry there) while the Route 13 relocation never happened.
Also, the plan predicted that Freeville would grow from its 1965 population of 500 to 720 by 1990. In 1990 it had 437 residents, and in 2000 it had 505. It also predicted that the Village of Dryden would grow from 1353 in 1965 to 1945 in 1990. Dryden had 1908 residents in 1990 and 1832 in 2000. They weren't too far off for Dryden, but Freeville has stayed much quieter.
For the town, they guessed between 14,000 and 16,000 in 1990; the actual in 1990 was 13,251, with 13,532 in 2000.
Posted by simonstl at May 10, 2005 09:32 PM