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?
- Probable
- Was there an ordinance?
- Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
- Sign?
- Don’t Know
- 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 | 360 | 1 | ||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | 3,630 | 6 | ||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||
| 1990 | 7,831 | 9 | ||||||
| 2000 | 7,636 | 27 | ||||||
| 2010 | ||||||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Realtors
Main Ethnic Group(s)
- Unknown
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
- Jewish
Comments
A realtor from the Camp Hill area said that in the 1980s a fellow realtor told her not to show blacks properties in Camp Hill because the realty agency didn’t want to be the first to sell a house to a black in that town. The realtor also said that she had heard her realty agency referred to as “that Jew that let the blacks into Harrisburg,” but assumes that happened around World War II. The realtor doesn’t know of an official policy to keep blacks and other groups out of Camp Hill, she says that her comments were,”…just something that was passed around.”
A resident from a nearby town. Email interview: “Most locals refer to Camp Hill and other towns on the west side of the river as “The West Shore.” However, Blacks in Harrisburg call it “The White Shore.” To this day, many Black friends of mine (adults), even educated lawyers, avoid going there out of fear.”
Email interview from a granddaughter of longtime residents: “My grandparents moved to Camp Hill in either 1913 or 1914. My grandfather and oldest uncle had been put out of work at the horse net factory near Rossville,PA, and they needed employment and employment for my grandmother. My grandmother had two female cousins living in Camp Hill. The family moved there because they knew that there was work for ‘white’ women in that town. This was because there was a law that no ‘colored’ people could be on the street after sundown…Often I heard it said that if a ‘colored’ person was seen by the police after dark, they would be picked up, if not arrested.”
Email exchange with a resident who lived in Camp Hill as a child: “I recall hearing that there was a “rule” that Jewish people couldn’t buy in Camp Hill.”