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?
- Sign?
- Year of Greatest Interest
- 1880-1900
- Still Sundown?
- Probably Not, Although Still Very Few Black People
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | 2150 | 18 | ||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | 3005 | 5 | ||||||
| 1910 | 3335 | 4 | ||||||
| 1920 | 3392 | 5 | ||||||
| 1930 | 3700 | 1 | ||||||
| 1940 | 3760 | 0 | ||||||
| 1950 | 3862 | 5 | ||||||
| 1960 | 4341 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| 1970 | 4262 | 1 | ||||||
| 1980 | 3841 | 0 | ||||||
| 1990 | 3457 | 0 | ||||||
| 2000 | 3491 | 1 | ||||||
| 2010 | 3245 | 4 | ||||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
Main Ethnic Group(s)
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
According to, Past and Present of Fountain and Warren Counties Indiana, this region experienced a series of racial tension between black and white coal mining workers in the late 1870s.
“At Stringtown and Snoddy’s Mills. [The riot] occurred in April, 1878, over differences between the white and colored miners…In December, 1877, Thomas Kelley murdered a man…[and] the next April the two races got into serious difficulty and five negro miners were killed.”
“…The number of colored miners engaged at the mines then was ninety while the white miners numbered two hundred and twenty five.”
An long time resident of Attica (c. 60 years old) said, “I don’t recall a rule that no blacks were allowed but way back yonder there was an incident where a black man was killed by a train.” (11/10/13)
An elderly man in Attica said that there used to be a sign just before the bridge leading from Attica to Williamsport that read, “Nigger Don’t let the sun set on you in Williamsport.” He said the sign was taken down and put in someone’s basement. (11/3/13)
According to one resident, Attica used to be a “KKK Playground” and had a powerful influence in the town.
One oral history states that less than 15 years ago a cross was burned in a black family’s yard in nearby Covington forcing them to leave.
A librarian at Williamsport said, “An older white man said that his grandfather though a black man was cheating in poker at Attica, so he killed him.” (11/5/13)
An assistant librarian at Attica said that one interracial boy graduated from Attica HS in her experience and left. According to the woman, “he was shunned by all.” This same person also stated that the Harrison Steel Company would not hire blacks for a long time and when describing the overall feel of the town said that “if you were black you couldn’t enter [Attica].” Several black families live in Attica now. But there is still a lot of racism according to this source.
A resident in 2013 stated that it was known in Attica in the earlier 1900s that you weren’t welcome if you were black.