Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Independent City or Town
- Metro Area
- Politics c. 1860?
- Don’t Know
- Unions, Organized Labor?
- Don’t Know
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?
- Surely Not
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | 3586 | 3 | ||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | 5391 | 3 | ||||||
| 1930 | 5074 | 2 | ||||||
| 1940 | ||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | 8297 | 30 | ||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1990 | 9020 | 6 | 2 | |||||
| 2000 | 9536 | 32 | 23 | 21 | 224 | 9 | ||
| 2010 | 9897 | 69 | 50 | 41 | ||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Threat of Violence
- Unknown
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
An Indiana lawyer recalls that there was a sign between Ft. Wayne and Bluffton, “Nigger, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On You In Bluffton.”
Emma Lou Thornbrough writes in her book _The Negro in Indiana_ (Indianapolis: IN Historical Bureau, 1957):
“In Wells County in the northern part of the state no Negroes settled for 20 years after the Civil War. In 1880 three %u2014 two barbers and a cook %u2014 ventured to come to Bluffton. All received written notices that they must leave, and the proprietor of the hotel who employed the cook, as well as the sheriff of the county, received warnings to get rid of the Negroes. In 1890 and 1900 there were only three Negroes in the county.” “A gravestone marked simply ‘Nigger Jim’ was the only evidence of a Negro being buried in the county.” (p. 227)
A resident of Bluffton emailed us: “My attorney in Bluffton told me recently the prosecutors office still deals regularly with what they call DWBs, Driving While Black. We have also had black friends from nearby Fort Wayne decline invitations to dinner, but willing to come to an afternoon BBQ.”
Bluffton has shown signs of acknowledging its past. On the Bluffton Wikipedia page it acknowledges its past of exclusive practices while introducing its new attempts to make a more inclusive community. In a 2006 issue of USA TODAY, Bluffton was highlighted for putting up inclusive welcome signs at the highway entrances and public school buildings.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluffton,_Indiana)