From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for June 20, 1974:

Douglas County’s official population had dropped by more than 3,700 from 1973 to 1974, according to the county’s annual agricultural census. The census, made public today by County Assessor Darwin Rogers, showed the county population at 55,643, compared with 59,643 the previous year. The decline was centered mostly in Lawrence, which had dropped from 46,128 to 42,626. (Federal figures listed the city’s population as more than 48,000.) The county drop was caused by a decrease in the number of Kansas University students registering to vote in the past year, Rogers said. He anticipated that the count would increase in 1975, as students began taking an interest in the elections during November. Other areas in the county had shown little decline, and Eudora, Baldwin, and Lecompton had all shown increases. The agricultural census was used by the state as a major determinate in disbursing state funds, and the reported population decline was expected to affect the county’s income in the coming year.