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Fast Facts

POP Culture: 1940

ICONS: Mount Rushmore, World War II, Mach 1
Mount Rushmore World War II Homefront Poster Chuck Yeager

  • Marvel Comics introduces superhero Captain America in March 1941.
  • After approximately 14 years, carving at Mount Rushmore concludes in October 1941.
  • Diarist Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the "Achterhuis" on July 6, 1942, in Amsterdam.
  • Walt Disney wins a 1943 Academy Award for his animated short film Der Fuehrer's Face.
  • Band leader Alton Glenn Miller disappears while enroute to Paris, France, December 15, 1944.
  • Department stores begin selling Tupperware® in 1946.
  • Charles Yeager becomes the first man to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental Bell X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 ft.
  • NASCAR® holds its first modified stock car race in Daytona Beach, FL, in 1948.
  • George Orwell publishes Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949.

The 1940 Census

 

10 Largest Urban Places

U.S. Resident Population: 132,164,569 Rank Place Population
Population per square mile of land area: 37.2 1 New York City, NY 7,454,995
Percent increase of population from 1930 to 1940: 7.3 2 Chicago, IL 3,396,808
Official Enumeration Date: April 1 3 Philadelphia, PA 1,931,334
Number of States: 48 4 Detroit, MI 1,623,452
Cost: $67,527,000 5 Los Angeles, CA 1,504,277
Cost per Capita (cents): 51.1 6 Cleveland, OH 878,336
Total Pages in Published Reports: 58,400 7 Baltimore, MD 859,100
Number of Enumerators: 123,069 8 St. Louis, MO 816,048
Census Bureau Director: William Lane Austin 9 Boston, MA 770,816
Number of Questions on the Standard Form: 34 10 Pittsburgh, PA 671,659
Number of Supplemental Questions: 16

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Source: U.S. Census Bureau | Census History Staff | Last Revised: December 14, 2023