According to a preliminary announcement of population (subject to correction) issued by the Census Bureau early in 1921 giving figures of the fourteenth census (1920), the population of the several townships of Rush county is as follows:

Anderson township, 1,457; Center township, 1,376; Jackson township, 582; Noble township, 845; Orange township, 1,015; Posey township, 1,299; Richland township, 695; Ripley township, including town of Carthage, 1,815; Rushville township,m including city of Rushville, 6,782; Union township, including that part of Glenwood lying in this county, 1,158; Walker township, 1,192, and Washington township, 925. Total for county, 19,241. Rushville's population is given at 5,498, as follows: First ward, 1,641; Second ward, 1,364; Third ward, 2,493.

The trend of population away from the farm which has been so noticeable a feature of census statistics in the middle West during the past two decades has been noticed with concern in Rush county, where, as in nearly every other section of the state, the rural communities have suffered a loss in population. Comparison of the above figures with those of the census report for twenty years ago will show a decline in population in all townships of the county save Rushville township, which is saved by the gain in the city's population, the figures for 1900 being as follows: Anderson township, 1,481; Center, 1,753; Jackson, 706; Noble, 992; Orange, 1,102; Posey, 1,495; Richland, 767; Noble, 992; Orange, 1,102; Posey, 1,495; Richland, 767; Ripley (including Carthage), 2,118; Rushville (including city of Rushville), 6,027; Union, 1,341; Walker, 1,361; Washington, 1,005. The total population of the county in 1900 was given as 20,148, as against 19,241 for 1920, and the population of the city of Rushville in 1900 was given as 4,541, as against 5,498 for 1920. The gain in the city, however, was not sufficient to offset the loss in the rural communities and Rush county is thus shown to have suffered an actual decline in population of 907.