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?
- Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
- Sign?
- Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
- Year of Greatest Interest
- 1920
- Still Sundown?
- Probably Not, Although Still Very Few Black People
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | 537 | 0 | ||||||
| 1880 | 1298 | 0 | ||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | 1664 | 1 | ||||||
| 1910 | 1603 | 15 | ||||||
| 1920 | 1678 | 1 | ||||||
| 1930 | 1621 | 3 | ||||||
| 1940 | 1833 | 0 | ||||||
| 1950 | 1752 | 1 | ||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | ||||||||
| 1980 | 2252 | 0 | ||||||
| 1990 | ||||||||
| 2000 | 2055 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||||
| 2010 | 2037 | 8 | 3 | |||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Reputation
Main Ethnic Group(s)
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
A longtime Farmer City resident stated, “There was an ordinance in Farmer City that said no black people after dark. That was years and years ago…early 1900s.”
Another longtime resident said, “I just heard stories. I don’t know of anyone particularly who experienced it…anyone that came into Farmer City had to leave by sundown.” I asked if she was referring to black people, and she said yes.
A sign outside of Schmidt’s Welding and Machine Shop in Farmer City read “Congrats Michael Brown One Year With No Criminal Behavior” on the anniversary of his death.
A Farmer City resident stated that she believed the city had been sundown. As of 2000, there were no African Americans in the city.
One person whose family lived in Farmer City confirmed that it was still a sundown town in 2010 via email.