Home » Indiana » Frankfort

James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

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

Frankfort

Indiana

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

The available census data from 1860 to the present
Total White Black Asian Native Hispanic Other BHshld
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910 8634 83
1920
1930
1940 13705 71
1950
1960 15302
1970 14956 23
1980 15168 12
1990 14754 32
2000 16620 79
2010 16422 105
2020

Method of Exclusion

  • Unknown

Main Ethnic Group(s)

  • Unknown

Group(s) Excluded

  • Black

Comments

One former resident of Elwood who saw the sundown signs personally in the 1940s claimed, “if you were to start at Frankfort on Indiana State Road 28 and go east, you hit Tipton, Elwood, and Alexandria, all of them had the sundown signs at the city limits” (March 2004).

Another individual also remembers seeing signs along State Highway 28 and mentioned Frankfort, Tipton, Elwood, and Alexandria once again. (February 2004)

An email from 2004 stated that Frankfort allowed whites to pay a premium in order to live in all-white neighborhoods and keep blacks from moving in.

A former resident of Frankfort shared her story of racial slurs thrown at her during her experience within the school system. January 2013