Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Independent City or Town
- Metro Area
- Politics c. 1860?
- Unions, Organized Labor?
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Surely
- Was there an ordinance?
- Don't Know
- Sign?
- Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
- Year of Greatest Interest
- Still Sundown?
- Probably Not, Although Still Very Few Black People
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | ||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1990 | 240 | 0 | ||||||
| 2000 | 284 | 279 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | |
| 2010 | ||||||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Unknown
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
In approximately 1930, “the blacks lived in a small
area near the mining camp about 5 miles out of town
and there were no restrictions until a black man broke
into the house of a prominent citizen of Nauvoo with
the intention of harming his wife (or so the story goes)
and after that blacks had to be out of town by 6 in the
evening. There was a sign in the town that did say,
‘Don’t let the sun set on your heels in this town
Nigger.’
“I don’t have any idea when the sign came down. I
think I remember it in the early 50’s but it must have
come down with civil rights. I do remember very
clearly that blacks were not allowed to eat in
restaurants and had to eat at picnic tables out back.
And of course the restrooms and water fountains were
marked whites only.
“My grandparents had a cotton farm and hired many
black men and women to help picking and according
to my 82 year old mother they were treated as equals
on their farm and served dinner (noon meal) along
with everyone else on the farm. She did say that
churches and schools were definitely segregated, no
surprise there.”
-former resident of Nauvoo