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A Brief History of Population:
1810: 700 people
1830: 1,200
1960: fewer than 500 winter residents
1994: 800 winter, 10,000 overnight summer + 3,000/day
visiting
2000: 1010 (census bureau)
Projected Population Growth:
2010: 1,100 winter, 1,600 summer peak under same projection.
These numbers are near build-out saturation levels for
the island.
2060: 1,700 winter, 18,000 summer
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Violette's Rooster.
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Population Trends:
Given the Rhode Island 2000 census data, the Block Island
population is predominantly caucasian and has grown tremendously
since 1960 to serve an increasing summer tourism industry.
Due to the different interests and priorities of the summer
and winter populations it is up to town planners to decide
whether to act in the interests of the transient tourist population
of 10,000 people or the year round community of about 1,000
residents. These conflicting interests mean the difference
between deciding to protect rural character, preserve more
open space and limit growth versus funding the additional
infrastructure to manage peak sewarage, traffic and water
demand in the summer.
( http://www.planning.state.ri.us/Census/)
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