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?
- Possible
- Was there an ordinance?
- Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
- Sign?
- Year of Greatest Interest
- Still Sundown?
- Surely Not
Census Information
| Total | White | Black | Asian | Native | Hispanic | Other | BHshld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | ||||||||
| 1870 | ||||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||
| 1890 | ||||||||
| 1900 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | ||||||||
| 1940 | 11034 | 34 | ||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||
| 1960 | ||||||||
| 1970 | 16338 | 30 | ||||||
| 1980 | 16012 | 41 | 23 | 109 | ||||
| 1990 | ||||||||
| 2000 | 16495 | 120 | ||||||
| 2010 | 16325 | 209 | 10 | 152 | ||||
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Violence Towards NewcomersRealtors
Main Ethnic Group(s)
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
* In 1940, 27 of the 34 black residents were females.
* In 1970, 23 of the 30 black residents were males, suggesting a far lower number of households.
Email testimony: “It was closed to outsiders of all kinds, including blacks.”
Ft. Thomas is said to have been covered with restrictive covenant deeds.
Email testimony from 7/2014:
“I lived there from birth until the age of 18 when I went into the military… Growing up as a boy, I vividly remember black door to door salesmen being escorted by the police to the city limits on numerous occasions prior to the sun going down. Growing up, I knew of absolutely no minorities living within the city limits. If they did, they lived on the far outskirts of town. They lived in the surrounding cities of Newport and Dayton. For a fact, I know that there were no blacks or any other minority that went to my schools up until I hit high school except for one Asian girl and her brother. In high school it was only a Puerto Rican and his sister that joined. There were never any blacks through my entire school years attending school with me. Growing up, I remember the adults talking about blacks not being allowed in the city after sundown. I have heard, although not recently, that there was a city ordinance stating that nobody of color could stay in the city after dark. […] From what i was told, by a [county employee], it was still actually on the books as little as 5 years ago.
It was always said that blacks weren’t allowed in the town and I never saw any except for the salesmen the whole time growing up.
Recently, a high school friend of mine, was visiting a local museum dedicated to the history of Ft. Thomas. Its located in Tower Park, a city park that used to be an armory. She was talking to a lady that she guessed to be in her late 70’s and the topic came up about how minorities never lived in the city until recently. The elderly lady, being the curator, was full of information and mentioned the signs that no longer exist. She said the museum would love to have one for display […] I don’t remember the signs so I asked my parents, 70 and 74 years old. My father verified that he remembers those signs. They have lived in Ft Thomas since the late 60’s.”