The Move to Country Club Road

The campus of York Collegiate Institute is located in Tract 1 of York City as divided by the 1960 US Census, while York Junior College was placed just south of the outer boundary of Tract 9. Though not particularly far, geographically, this move still came with a number of notable demographic changes.

In 1960, the nation was 88.6% white. The median annual income for families was about $5,600 (Adjusted: $50,112). Nationally, the median salary for white men was nearly double that of non-white men, more than three times that of white women, and more than five times that of non-white women. A median of 10.6 years of school had been completed. By comparison, York City as a whole was 91.2% white, with a median family income of $5,441 (Adjusted: $48,689) and only 9.1 median years of school completed. However, within the city we see significant variations.

Tract 1, where York Collegiate Institute was located, saw a population of 2,692, 91.6% of which was white. Median income was only $4,000 (Adjusted: $35,794) and median years of education completed was a low 8.8. When the college moved to Tract 9, exactly 50% of its 6,010 residents were white, with families making $5,769 (Adjusted: $50,818). 10.2 years of school was the median completed, and the number of people in college more than doubled simply from 10 to 27. While these absolute amounts are small, the relative changes are significant. These statistics, then, make the case that York Junior College’s move was not necessarily one motivated by racial prejudice. Instead, the movement of the campus from Duke Street was into a more diverse, but more populous, affluent, and well-educated area shown by the table below.