Yes and people would have shot and killed any bears dumb enough to come close to a settlement 100 yrs ago. I can only speak for my remote town on the road system but in the 80's and 90's we didn't have a bear problem. I can recall being very excited if I saw over 5 bears during a summer and those were always on the trails or tide flats in the out lying areas. The were not in town or neighborhoods. Now bears are more common than loose dogs and get into trash more often. 

We had a young brown bear destroy our trash can earlier this summer and he wouldn't leave the mess he created. It was trash day and he picked out sealed regular can for some reason. What a mess and he scared the heck out of my wife. Had I not been at work and had we lived in a more rural area I would have shot and killed him and dumped his body into the river with my Bobcat just so I wouldn't have to deal with the paper work and public condemnation. My kids could have easily been mauled by the dumb thing that morning.