Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Independent City or Town
- Metro Area
- Politics c. 1860?
- Strongly Democratic
- Unions, Organized Labor?
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Surely
- Was there an ordinance?
- Don't Know
- Sign?
- Don’t Know
- Year of Greatest Interest
- Still Sundown?
- Don’t Know
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | 389 | |||||||
| 1900 | 518 | |||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | ||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1990 | 872 | 1 | ||||||
| 2000 | 338 | |||||||
| 2010 | ||||||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Unknown
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
Sundown, according to nearby farmer.
Nickname, acc. to an employee from there, “all to pass,” meaning all blacks must pass through, cannot stay. Interview, January, 2004.
Another resident of Union County: nickname was “Alto Pass” until sundown, then “Fear to Pass.” — 7/2004.
Alto Pass
This village, located on rolling hills of the Illinois Ozarks, acquired its name because it is the highest elevation in Illinois traversed by a railroad. The town originally called Quetil, was laid out on January 20, 1875, along the St. Louis and Cairo Narrow Gauge Railroad and soon became an important shipping center for fruits and vegetables. By the turn of the century, the nearly 500 citizens of Alto Pass were served by a post office, five general stores, a drug store, two hotels, a blacksmith shop, a millinery shop, a lumber yard and two cooper shops. Alto Pass today has only 304 residents. Many of the stores stand abandoned, although a few shops and a band remain. The interior of the bank is representative of architectural designs of an earlier era.