Talk:Harpers Ferry, Iowa

Why name change?

The name was changed to "Harper's Ferry" in 1860. John Brown had led his uprising at Harpers Valley, WV in 1859. Is there evidence that they changed the name to honor this event? Pete unseth (talk) 16:07, 28 August 2021 (UTC)

Population plot image

Magnolia677 stated in the edit comment removing the population plot "Please discuss on talk page why two images are needed to show the same data". I don't understand what he or she means by this comment. As far as I can see, thee has only been one plot of population vs time, and that's the one that was removed. Maybe I'm missing something. I certainly agree that two images showing the same data are not needed, and if I somehow am not seeing the other plot, then I am in the wrong restoring a second one. But I've never seen two images showing population vs time on this article, so I restored the only one that I know of.PopePompus (talk) 21:20, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

Historical populations

Year	Pop.	±%
1910	297	—
1920	328	+10.4%
1930	289	−11.9%
1940	361	+24.9%
1950	252	−30.2%
1960	211	−16.3%
1970	227	+7.6%
1980	258	+13.7%
1990	284	+10.1%
2000	330	+16.2%
2010	328	−0.6%
2020	262	−20.1%
Source:"U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2020-03-29. and Iowa Data Center Source: U.S. Decennial Census

@PopePompus: Would you agree that the image on the right shows population over time? Magnolia677 (talk) 21:41, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

I don't consider that an image. I consider that to be a table. When I see a table like that, my first instinct is to say "Is the town growing or shrinking as time goes by?" A graph of the table's data shows that instantly. Many of the towns surrounding metro areas like Des Moines are experiencing exponential growth - that's very apparent when you look at a graph. For the many small towns in Iowa that are shrinking, a graph makes it instantly clear when the population peaked. So I think presenting the table's data as a graph is useful, because it makes trends instantly visible.

Although I made the plot that you removed, I am not the only person who believes that plotting the population data is useful. For example, somebody else made such a plot for Peosta, Iowa.

I admit that the population plots that I have made are very plain and somewhat unattractive. I would be happy to remake the plots in a manner that you might suggest to make them more attractive. But I think plotting the data provides an "at a glace" presentation that is a useful complement to the tabulated data. PopePompus (talk) 21:55, 20 October 2024 (UTC)

References