Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century the predecessor of the Census Bureau was a temporary office that was housed within a succession of facilities in downtown Washington. A permanent Census Office was established in 1902 within the Department of the Interior, becoming the Census Bureau when it moved to the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903. Ten years later, Labor became a separate Department while the Census Bureau remained a part of the Commerce Department. It wasn't until 1940 that the Census Bureau moved into a permanent headquarters building, the newly built Federal Office Building 1 in Southwest Washington, DC.
This permanent home was relinquished, however, only two years later, when the Census Bureau gave up its headquarters to the Office of Price Administration, a wartime agency. The Census Bureau moved into its "temporary" home in Federal Office Building 3 of the new Suitland Federal Center in spring 1942. It has been based out of the Washington suburb ever since.
When UNIVAC I was installed at the Census Bureau in 1951, computer operations were housed in the basement and wings of the agency's Federal Office Building 3 in Suitland, MD. Additional computing space was added later to a satellite facility in Charlotte, NC. As technology changed and the power, network, and security needs of the agency increased, the World War II-era (flood-prone) headquarters and satellite space grew increasingly obsolete.
In cooperation with the General Services Administration, officials from the Census Bureau, the city of Bowie, MD, and the University of Maryland (which donated the land), broke ground for a state-of-the-art facility in Bowie, MD, on September 11, 1995.
Upon completion of the facility in 1997, the U.S. Census Bureau's computer operations moved to the Bowie Computer Center. The state-of-the-art facility offers 110,724 square feet of space, of which 90 percent houses computer equipment, at the Maryland Science and Technology Center. Not only is the facility home to the Census Bureau's computer infastructure, but it also houses one of the largest supercomputers in the nation, currently used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for weather forecasting.
The Bowie Computer Center's operations are safeguarded against power interruptions. Battery backup is available during minor power outages and generators are used for extended periods. In addition, the facility is under continuous maintenance. Around the clock, 365 days a year, technicians working in the operations center monitor the Census Bureau's computers to ensure that the servers, network connections, and Census Bureau Web site are available 24 hours a day.
The computer center was designed with energy efficiency in mind. Innovative features include programmable lighting, reflective glazing to reduce cooling requirements, modular wiring for work stations, variable frequency drives on mechanical systems, and alternative refrigerant in the building's chillers. These and other innovations earned the Bowie Computer Center a Federal Design Achievement Award for its commitment to technology and an open and efficient work environment and an Industry Award for Best Practices for Enterprise Management Systems.
Today, the Bowie Computer Center continues to play a critical role in maintaining the U.S. Census Bureau's computers, networks, and servers. The center's goal is to remain the unnoticed backbone of the agency's census, survey, and Web site operations. In 2003, then Customer Services Division Chief, Ken Riccini noted, "You're not supposed to know we're here. When we handle disruptions without anyone noticing, that means we're doing our job."
Over the decades, the reach of the census spread to new states and areas under U.S. sovereignty or jurisdiction. Census officials, even when they led temporary offices, have constantly sought to increase both the amount and the diversity of information they collected about the people of the United States. From mortality to home ownership, statistics have given Americans a better idea of the demographic profile of the United States. Click on the link below for more information on the decennial census:
The development and implementation of statistical sampling techniques for the 1940 census gave birth to several mid-decade demographic surveys at the U.S. Census Bureau. These surveys give businesses, policy planners, and the public the opportunity to use updated national and state- or local-level (depending on sample size) statistics for relatively little cost or difficulty. Some of these surveys include:
The Decennial Censuses
The first several decennial censuses were very basic. Census-takers only asked a handful of demographic questions, processing and tabulating questionnaires occurred at a local level, and publications were relatively limited. But as the country grew, and policy and business leaders began to recognize the value of census data, questionnaires became longer and tabulation necessarily became more involved.
As the science of statistics advanced, the Census Bureau changed and updated its methodology. The most noteworthy change occurred in 1940, when the Census Bureau introduced statistical sampling in a population census. There have, however, been other important methodological advances, especially in the fields of industrial classification and census-taking.
The 2010 census saw the most dramatic shift in the U.S. Census Bureau's data collection process in decades. The successful launch of the American Community Survey, which is administered continuously throughout the decade, meant that the long-form sample questionnaire was no longer used in the census itself. As the United States continues to change, the Census Bureau continues to change along with it.
The 23rd decennial census of the U.S. population began on January 25, 2010, in Noorvik, AK, where the Bureau of the Census Director, among others, traveled by snowmobile and dogsled to enumerate the residents. Most U.S. households—about 120 million—received their census forms by mail in March, ahead of the official April 1 Census Day, and 74% of the households that received forms mailed them back. From May through July, the Census Bureau contacted about 47 million nonresponding households and on December 21, 2010, released the official state population figures and total U.S. resident population of 308,745,538 as of Census Day.
The Bureau’s constitutional mandate to enumerate the U.S. population every 10 years has been summarized with deceptive simplicity: count each person whose usual residence is in the United States; count the person only once; and count him or her at the right location. In reality, the attempt to find all U.S. residents and correctly enumerate them is increasingly complicated and expensive, and attracts congressional scrutiny. This report discusses the major innovations that were planned for 2010; problems encountered; issues of census accuracy, coverage, and fairness; and the present status of census operations.
The 2010 census questionnaire was one of the shortest in history - asking just 10 questions of all households in the United States and Island Areas related to name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship, and whether you own or rent your home. Collection of data about education, housing, jobs, etc. collected by previous censuses long-form questionnaires are now collected by the U.S. Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey.
In addition to the reduced number of questions, the Census Bureau announced it would count same-sex married couples in June 2009. When noting the relationship between household members, same-sex couples who are married could mark their spouses as being "Husband or wife", the same response given by opposite-sex married couples. An "unmarried partner" option was available for couples (whether same-sex or opposite-sex) who were not married.
Following the success of Census 2000's advertising, the 2010 census featured a $133 million, 4-month advertising campaign. Although officially beginning January 18, 2010, the advertising campaign debuted the night of January 17 during NBC's Golden Globe Awards broadcast.
In total, the 2010 advertising campaign included television, radio, print, outdoor and the Internet advertising, produced in an unprecedented 28 languages. More than half of the budgeted advertising would target media consumed by minority and ethnic audiences. The Census Bureau anticipated that the campaign would reach the average person 42 times with messages about the importance of participating in the census.
From Super Bowl XLIV and the 2010 Winter Olympics, to popular primetime shows, the 2010 Census advertising campaign represented the most extensive and diverse outreach campaign in U.S. history. The advertising rollout also included updates on other outreach efforts, such as the Census in Schools program, “Portrait of America” Road Tour, and the national and regional partnership programs targeted at reaching hard-to-count populations.
(Link: https://www.census.gov/history/)