Smallest congressional district ever?

[bgwah]

By land area, what is the smallest congressional district ever?

So in 1910, Manhattan has 2.3 million people... In 1912, New York State has 45 electoral votes which means they have 43 congressional districts.

So the 9,113,614 people living in NY state in 1910 divided by 43 electoral votes in 1912 equals about 211,945 people per distirct in NY.

That means that Manhattan alone had about 11 congressional districts! The island itself is only like 22 square miles or something. So the average district was probably only around 2 square miles.

There were certainly some very very densely poplated areas in Manhattan in 1910, I think the Lower Eastside was one. They could possibly have had a district smaller than 1 square mile there.

If anyone knows for a fact what the smallest one ever was, feel free to share.

and BTW, Manhattan does have less people than it did 95 years ago.

[socaldem]

I think back then districts weren't exactly apportioned equally...I think at some point a series of reforms were needed to make sure that urban representation was fair...but i might be wrong...the point is, it's quite possible ny had malapportionment back then...

On the other hand, a one mile square district would have been perfect for a nice, ol' fashioned Democratic machine...

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The Manhattan districts probably had more people than the average.

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http://www.prcdc.org/summaries/censushistory/censushistory.html

[Emsworth]

I think back then districts weren't exactly apportioned equally...I think at some point a series of reforms were needed to make sure that urban representation was fair...

The Supreme Court did not rule in Reynolds v. Sims until 1964, or in Wesberry v. Sanders until 1965, so you are correct.

[minionofmidas]

The Manhattan districts probably had more people than the average.

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http://www.prcdc.org/summaries/censushistory/censushistory.html

This is probably related to the fact that Congress (shamefully) failed to pass a reapportionment bill in 1920, so 1930's districts were 20 years out of date. The 800,000 district was probably in the outer parts of NY City somewhere. The 91,000 district was probably on the Lower East Side. They probably both had had at least very roughly 200,000 people in 1910.