Home » Ohio » Fairborn

James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.

Fairborn

Ohio

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?
Possible
Was there an ordinance?
Don't Know
Sign?
Don’t Know
Year of Greatest Interest
Still Sundown?
Surely Not

Census Information

The available census data from 1860 to the present
Total White Black Asian Native Hispanic Other BHshld
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950 7847 6
1960 19453 3
1970 32267 127 193
1980 29474 496
1990 31300 28913 1290 123 974
2000 32052 2010 127 1064
2010 32352 2507 108 1015
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

email 3/2008

A lot of Black students from Central State University(A Historically Black College & University) live in Fairborn.

***
One black Ohioan claims that Fairborn had no blacks until 1970s.
“In 1963 the town came under some scrutiny and complaint from the federal government. It seems that airmen stationed at Wright Patterson and some blacks who had been transferred there, issued complaints that Fairborn did not allow blacks to reside in the city limits. The civic fathers of the town held a meeting and asked my father if he would move us to Fairborn since he was well known in the community, having owned a tailor shop there for several years. My father was promised a low cost mortgage and other incentives, but I was still in high school and he did not want me to be the sacrificial lamb so to speak.”

A current resident emailed us: “I am African American and have lived here since 1991, very welcomed by most. There is a large military base here as well which would make if difficult to “police” Blacks being around after dark because they could be working on the base.”

*1960: all the black residents were females, most likely maids without an independent household.