Basic Information
- Type of Place
- Independent City or Town
- Metro Area
- Politics c. 1860?
- Strongly Democratic
- Unions, Organized Labor?
- Don’t Know
Sundown Town Status
- Sundown Town in the Past?
- Probable
- Was there an ordinance?
- Don't Know
- Sign?
- Perhaps, Some Oral Evidence
- 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 | ||||||||
| 1910 | ||||||||
| 1920 | ||||||||
| 1930 | 2824 | 0 | ||||||
| 1940 | ||||||||
| 1950 | 4417 | 4411 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |||
| 1960 | 7903 | 7882 | 0 | 21 | 0 | |||
| 1970 | 7810 | 7727 | 0 | 2 | 52 | 29 | 0 | |
| 1980 | 7991 | 7669 | 2 | 704 | 0 | |||
| 1990 | 7607 | 6602 | 2 | 8 | 95 | 900 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 7719 | 6571 | 12 | 31 | 77 | 2653 | 1028 | 2 |
| 2010 | 8802 | 7454 | 35 | 28 | 95 | 4558 | 1190 | 10 |
| 2020 |
Method of Exclusion
- Threat of Violence
- Reputation
- Unknown
Main Ethnic Group(s)
Group(s) Excluded
- Black
Comments
A longtime resident recalls a sign that read “Don’t let the sun set on your back too long when you’re out in Perryton.” This resident grew up with community members who didn’t want dark-skinned people to live in Perryton and remembers African Americans being deterred from visiting or living there. He has no memory of any African Americans attending the school or serving on the police force growing up. Although no major incidents have been reported recently, today his relatives warn that certain people need to be cautious while traveling through Perryton.
In the late 1950s, a former resident recalls there were no black children in his grade school. His mother also once purchased lunch meat for a group of black railroad workers as the store owner would not allow them inside the store.